A land of waste: How Akure became dirtiest capital in Nigeria

By Ebenezer Adeniyan

Ten years ago, Akure, the Ondo State capital, was widely considered as one of the cleanest State capitals in Nigeria. This was a product of the meticulous combination of effective waste management and urban renewal initiative of the government.

With the State government adding aesthetically pleasing bus stops, road dividers, beautiful roundabouts and mordern markets, Akure was fast becoming a model city.

New car parks were created, car sellers along major roads were relocated, Arakale Road was dualised, the heart of the city was getting a better breathing space that made it easier for street sweepers of the Ondo State Waste Management Authority to operate and keep the State capital clean.

The Waste Management model was becoming such a huge success that the State government considered engaging more private participants to extend the cleanliness from the heart of the city to the inner parts and other major towns in the State.

With the successful engagement of smaller private participants by the waste management authority, the State government extended the invitation to major private firms to help the State in managing its Waste to Weath initiative, with particular attention on the operation of the waste conversion site along Igbatoro Road in Akure.

Then, in 2015, came a private company called Zoom Lion Agency, which boasted of having the wherewithal to invest billions of naira into the waste to wealth initiative, create jobs and generate huge resources for the government just by converting waste to useful materials such as plastics, fertilizers, etc.

“Under the arrangement, the firm (Zoom Lion Agency) would engage in picking, managing and recycling of over 80 per cent of the waste to create job opportunities as well as re-cycling of composed waste to organic fertilizers in the state.”

However, from that point in 2015 to the end of the Dr. Olusegun Mimiko administration in February 2017, the waste to wealth partnership with Zoom Lion Agency did not really take off but the government maintained its record of keeping the State clean.

When the administration of Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, came on board in February 2017, it didn’t take long for that waste to wealth initiative to get his attention. The Governor had wanted to build on the waste management record of his predecessor.

In fact, within a couple of months, that same company that could not get the job done under Mimiko, had approached the Akeredolu admimistration. But this time around, Zoom Lion Agency had undergone a change of name to become ZL Global Alliance, once again telling the new administration how it would turn waste to unlimited wealth if engaged.

Thus, the old/abandoned contract signed by Zoom Lion Agency under the Mimiko administration was revised, repackaged and re-signed by the same company now known as ZL Global Alliance.

Since 2018, ZL Global Alliance Ltd has handled waste management in Ondo State. The company describes itself as experts in waste management strategies: “We collect, transport, treat, recycle, recover and dispose of residential, commercial, medical and industrial waste.”

The Chairman/CEO of the company, Mrs. Abiola Bashorun, is a business development consultant who has over two decades of experience working in the banking industry. Her company currently runs at least three different contracts with the State government, including dredging of canals for the Ministry of Environment and managing the State Printing Press for the Ministry of Information.

.