LASPEMA to regulate scrap metal dealers in Lagos

The acting General Manager of the Lagos State Planning and Environmental Mon­itoring Authority (LASPEMA), Engineer Olanrewaju Kazeem has reiterated the determination of the agency to regulate the activi­ties of scrap dealers operating in Lagos State.

Engr. Kazeem assured Lagosia­ns that the agency will collaborate with other agencies of government to work out modalities on how best to regulate the activities of metal scrap dealers in order to enhance the security of lives and properties in the state, in addition to holding regular meetings with stakehold­ers and law enforcements agencies.

Speaking at a stakeholder’s meeting with the officials of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), the law enforcement arm of the state Min­istry for the Environment, at the Secretariat Alausa, Ikeja, the act­ing General Manager said: “We need to streamline the activities of scrap metal dealers through ef­fective collaboration between our agencies and the support of other agencies of government.”

He said the indiscriminate ac­tivities of scrap metal dealers in La­gos is a threat to the lives and prop­erties of law abiding citizens of the state, decrying the criminal activ­ities of some individuals who hide dangerous weapon under the guise of being scrap metal dealers to per­petrate their dubious activities.

The LASPEMA boss empha­sised that the agency is trying to reach out to genuine operators by holding interactive meetings with them as well as organising semi­nars and workshops on rules and regulations guiding their opera­tions.

“We want to collaborate with the police and other law enforce­ment agencies, particularly KAI since they know them better and can identify the blackspots. We will continue to meet with the scrap metal dealers at their vari­ous points, sensitize and hold sem­inars with genuine operators, cap­ture their data according to their zones and give operators zon­al unique colour identification to avoid mix up with criminal ele­ments.”

“The meeting is ongoing and so far we have met with Falomo, Agege and Marwa zones. They will operate within their zones and have name tags and stickers for security reasons and for iden­tification. They will no longer be allowed to operate on highways during the day except from 6.00pm upwards”.