Fadekemi Ajakaiye
The Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN) has inaugurated the Oyo State Chapter, tasking it to take charge of its destiny in conformity with the provisions of the Association’s Constitution.
President of AWAMN, Dr. David Oluwasegun Oriyomi, at the ceremony in Ibadan recently, said it was important that they work in the best interest of their members and the environment, stating that as an essential service provider, “we focus on servicing our clients, it is the quality of service we provide that will prompt our clients to pay. We must aggressively deliver our services in the same aggression with which we drive the collection of our revenues.”
Stating that the industry was capital intensive, and highly sensitive to foreign exchange rates, the president noted that members were using naira to fund dollar-related costs, making it not a business for the faint hearted.
He pledged the national body’s support for the chapter, promising to avail them guidance, business support, local and international training, access to funding, national and international visibility through a recognised strong brand and strong affiliation to international reputable organisations as ISWA.
Oriyomi called on the Oyo State Government to give more attention to the waste and environmental sector in allocation of funds in their budgets, pointing out that “our job is essentially preventive healthcare, and as it is said, Prevention is better than cure. If our job is done properly, then, it prevents illnesses and diseases.”
He welcomed the new chapter to AWAMN, urging members to be mindful of the challenges before them as they were not in it alone, just as he tasks them to show more than passing interest in Government policies, especially those relating to the environment.
“Be proactive rather than reactive, guide your job jealously by providing topnotch services to your clients and the environment because there are many predators ready to feed on your sweat!
“Note that the success you acquire on your job is closely knitted to the aesthetics of the environment. Remember that cleanliness is next to Godliness. He who tends the earth actually does God’s will,” the AWAMN President counseled, welcoming the Oyo State Chapter to their fold on behalf of the association, and asking for continuous collaboration to lift the association to greater heights as he congratulated the leadership of past Associations that have decided to collapse their structures into one, believing and hoping that they can achieve more when they are together.
The president said they were pleased that in their pursuit of a national spread, they have the Oyo State Chapter as their latest addition, stating that they are currently in discussion with Kano, Imo, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States to mention as potential Chapters to further enlarge their State Chapters, comprising Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, and now Oyo State.
Responding, Chairman of the Oyo State Chapter, Mr. Bbatunde Mosuro, welcomed members from the national headquarters, thanking the Chapter’s council of elders led by Pa Stephen Ogundipe for successfully steering the ship of the Association from the early days of RCA, the feuding times of TCA Vs PSPs till now.
“We appreciate them for being wholeheartedly committed to sustained peace, growth and progress of this Association we have now. It is our prayer that at the end we will be worthy ambassadors of AWAMN,” Mosuro said, calling on waste contractors in the State still skeptical of the motive and intension of AWAMN, Oyo State Chapter, to join and avail them their capacity, expertise, networks, ideas and resources, assuring them that they will let go the old ways that didn’t encourage them to advance and shun sentiments that kept them stationary.
“We will take a critical look at the welfare of our members and encourage those that are down, build them up and support them in realising their inestimable potentials. And as we do this, we will definitely see the multiplier effects in the development of our association as well as the state in general. We will ensure that our members, especially our women are respected not only by words but in our actual cultural practices. We will actively seek the opinion and counsel of our elders at all times and ensure that we play by the rules,” the Oyo Chairman assured, thanking all, who stood by them in the registration for AWAMN and fruition of the day’s event, just as the former President of Refuse Contractors Association (RCA) of Oyo State, Comrade Stephen Ogundipe, enjoined members to observe the day not just as a day of victory for the Association , but a time of celebration of freedom, symbolising an end and a beginning, renewal and a change.
“It is time to take our destiny in our own hands as a group of dedicated businessmen and women with skills and resources to offer for the development of our nation, Nigeria and Oyo State, to create a new regime of cleaner, healthier and more attractive cities and towns, where people can live, work, recreate and do profitable businesses.
“It’s time also for the Government of Oyo State to be rest assured that waste management has finally arrived the hands of operators with the know-how and the business acumen to make it effective and efficient, and it’s time for members of our Association to do business like true businessmen, and to proper so that our families and friends can be proud of our endeavours while we occupy our vantage positions in our respective communities and societies at large. Finally, it’s time for the people and government of Oyo State to begin experiencing better quality of live and stop wasting scarce resource on waste.
“By this, we elicit the State agencies to have confidence in our Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN), Oyo State, as the driving force and co-mobilisers in the quest to make the waste management industry the most efficient in Nigeria,” Ogundipe said, imploring members to come together without friend or foe, work with unity of mind and purpose so that the new drive will be met with success for all members and put to rest the experienced disorder of the past.
“Let every entrepreneur that is an entrepreneur indeed know that we should be prepared to pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend and oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of the waste management industry and this Association of Oyo State. Most of all, let the spirit of trust prevail in our Association,” the former RCA helmsman counseled.
