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Judge flays Lagos, waste managers over agreement delay

By Godwin Dunia
02 January 2018   |   5:09 am
A Judge of the Lagos High Court, Justice Oyekanmi Abdulahi has flayed the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and the Incorporated Trustees of the Waste Managers Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter for delaying in reaching settlement deal in their dispute. The judge also condemned the non-presentation of the terms of settlement before her as the…

Waste managers clearing refuse on the street

A Judge of the Lagos High Court, Justice Oyekanmi Abdulahi has flayed the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and the Incorporated Trustees of the Waste Managers Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter for delaying in reaching settlement deal in their dispute.

The judge also condemned the non-presentation of the terms of settlement before her as the parties promised the court at its last sitting on the matter.

She wondered why they had not reached agreement on the issues and save Lagos and the people from the heaps of waste now building up all over the place.

Justice Abdulahi had earlier ordered the parties to lay before her court on or before the adjourned date to put to an end the lingering crisis between the parties over the attempt by government to exclude the Private Sector Participation (PSP) Waste Operators from domestic waste collection and disposal under the Cleaner Lagos initiative.

“The issue of waste is beyond the parties in this matter, it has to do with all Lagosians because it bothers on the health and lives of all. That is why I cannot understand why you are here today again to ask for adjournment to enable you to meet to reach agreement on the grey areas?

“What I expected is that you would have met and all we need do here today is cross the ‘T’s and dot the ‘I’s and I can adopt it as the judgment of the court on the matter but here we are with all sorts of excuses.

“This case file is the most important before this court now. I wanted to get through with it before the Christmas break, or you want Lagos to remain smelling into the New Year? No, do something, go and meet with yourselves, reach agreement, come up with the final draft, put it on the internet, call me and I will enter it as judgment from wherever I am so that we can move on, we can’t continue in Lagos in this state,” she declared.

At the last sitting of the court on the matter, counsels to the parties had agreed to meet to review the terms of agreement and agree on them before the adjourned date of December 19 and 20, 2017.

Contrary to that, however, counsel to the waste Managers, Tosin Adesioye, who admitted at the resumed sitting that his chambers has received the proposed terms of settlement from the appellant asked for adjournment to enable him to forward it to the claimants to meet and take a decision on it.

Counsel to the first, second and third respondents, A.O. Adeyemi followed suit and similarly asked the court to adjourn to give them time to receive the response of the claimants to the terms of settlement, meet and resolve the grey areas.

The matter has been adjourned to January 18, 2018.

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