It Is Untrue That We Are Collecting State Government Monies --- Waste Managers (Part 1)

By Kenneth Orusi, Asaba
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Maxwell Egbe and Adeniyi Osawaru, are the President and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Association of Waste Managers, Asaba, chapter who are into Private Sector Participant (PSP), in the collection and disposal of waste and are duly registered with the Delta State Waste Management Board.

In this exclusive interview with Kenneth Orusi, in Asaba, they bare their minds on the intrigues rearing its head between them (Waste Managers) and the Delta State government.

They also unearth the fraudulent activities of some government functionaries as it affect waste and finances while trying to hoodwink Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of the state into believing unfounded allegations.

Excerpt:
How did the PSP came to be in Delta State? We have been doing the job for over 20 years and so far so good we are registered PSPs to Delta State Waste Management Board.

We were registered by them, for people who want to engage themselves in waste collection and disposal from house to house. We registered with the government with the sum of N30, 000 with the then Waste Management Board and we were all given license, authority, introduction letters and a certificate of registration in our companies name by the Waste Management Board and we started doing the business.

Until 2010, when the Waste Management Board discovered that they wanted people to be responsible for whatever happens in the areas where they work, they then zoned Asaba into segments in 2010 and each contractor PSP was given a segment to able control his job effectively.

In case there is a problem in zone A, they will know that Mr. Adeniyi Osawaro is responsible for zone A and they will call and ask him why there is problem. That was why they came up with that laudable process and it was running and we were doing our jobs.

We were going from house to house to clear the waste and at the end of the month, our clients, Deltans, pay us by hand and we give them receipt as an evidence of payment.

What was your staff strength? We have a staff strength of three to four as at then and the Waste Management Board was also doing their jobs by maintaining the dump site where we go to throw these waste every week and ensuring and sensitizing the people that they use the services of these PSPs that have been engaged in their areas to ensure a clean and a healthy environment for Deltans and it was going on smoothly.

How did SEEFOR came into the picture? In 2013, when the State Expenditure For Result (SEEFOR), World Bank Assisted Project came into Delta State and they said they want to go into the area of waste management because they saw that it was job capital employing and it was an avenue to employ people.

So, they were interested because they said as one of their policies as World Bank is job creation and youth empowerment and they saw it as an avenue that they can use to empowerment Deltans, they now venture into waste management.

They called and did a publication on the print media that those who are interested in doing this job and have the requirement which include a tipping truck or a compactor truck and a three years’ experience with Waste Management Board and duly registered with them, your task clearance and vehicle licence and prove of ownership that you are the owner of the vehicle; those were the criteria they used.

How many people showed interest in the publication? A lot of people, if I am not mistaking, over 100 persons applied for this only in Asaba and the project was to go on in Asaba, Uvwie, Udu, Sapele, Warri and Effurun. Six pilot scheme in the major local government areas of Delta State is where they said they want to start this project.

And in Asaba, alone over 100 applied and out of the 100, a screening was done and 41 were accepted as the people that can do this job who met the World Bank criteria and that 41 were engaged to start doing the job in their various zones which comprise 41 zones in Asaba.

And when they did this, they gave us 12 staff, compulsory that we must employ 12 staff. Before SEEFOR came, the maximum we were able to employ was between three and four. But when SEEFOR came, they saw it as an avenue to employ and empower Deltans, the number was then increased to 12 staff. They told us that they will take responsibility of their salaries every month that we should not be scared that they will pay as part of their empowerment scheme.

And we accepted and they gave us 12 staff and we started doing the job and they were paying us, the contractors N300, 000 monthly to maintain the truck, fuel it (as in buying of dessel for the truck), buying of black paper bags to share round, buying of rain boot (safety boot) for the workers, hand cloves to ensure that the job is hazard free and other logistics.

They even asked us to get first aide box for our staff. Of course, this were things we were not doing before they came in. They even made us to understand that there is even an insurance scheme for these our workers and there is also a saving scheme for our workers from the amount they want to pay to them which was very laudable and Deltans were employed.

Over 160 contractors were employed by SEEFOR into this project in these six pilot scheme and over 4000 youths and Deltans were employed into this scheme that were been paid N20, 000 monthly and that was how we were doing the job and they said that the job was going to be for one year and we did it till October.

How were you collecting your money from clients? Clients were paying money into SEEFOR/Government approved account. It was a counterpart funding. That money was to be returned back to the state government so we were not collecting money from clients. Clients were paying to the bank and SEEFOR was paying us till October when they said it was a one year project and they want to handover to the state government which they did.

What were the terms of agreement in the handover meeting? In the hand over, there was a meeting where the governor was supposed to come but he sent representatives: the Commissioner for Economic Planning, Kingsley Emu and Commissioner for Finance, Olorogun David Edevbie in the transition committee meeting.

They tagged it steering committee where all agencies that have to do with finance and environmental issues were all gathered and that meeting, the World Bank told them that we have spent money to train these people and we gave them 12 staff but we know if they take off now, they cannot manage the 12 staff so we have asked them to absolve 50 per cent of the 12 staff given to them which drops it down to six.

Also, that the state government should allow the 41 to operate because they are the ones that have been trained professionally by the World Bank and even given certificate to manage waste (collect and dispose) it in Delta State and they all agreed. Also, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) should be given to these contractors from the government showing that they are into a business understanding.

And an account should be opened to each of these 160 contractors in the whole of Delta State that client will be paying money into as World Bank has closed their account since their activity has ended in October. So, a fresh account should be opened so that the government can monitor it themselves and that was what we agreed and it was sealed and that in the account they are opening, whatever enters the account, the government should take 30 per cent and the contractors should be given 70 per cent.

We then ask them how do they intend to justify their 30 percent? They said their 30 per cent is to maintain the dump site, do enforcement and sensitize people and also pay the man that will be printing the invoice to clients so that clients will know how much they are owing and they can take to the bank to pay. We said no problem.

But there was no MoU to that effect, it was an agreement in a steering committee hand over meeting and we started working. We were working November, December, January and in February was when the state government opened the supposed Ministry of Environment PSP account. They were supposed to open the account immediately the World Bank was handing over to them, they did not till February 2016 which was already four months behind.

Clients started complaining that there is nowhere to go and pay because they have keyed themselves into the attitude of paying in the bank but they couldn’t pay without the printer’s invoice. So it was in that February they opened the account so we asked them how do you want clients to pay into the account when invoice for the job they are supposed to pay for has not been prepared? They now said they were looking for a contractor that will take the contract of printing the invoice as the contractor the SEEFOR was using before said he cannot continue because of the bargain the government said they will pay him so they are looking for a new contractor to start printing the bill for clients.

That delayed till March when they got a contractor that can print bills and the contractor started the work in March. The contractor printed the bill for November and December in March and gave it to us first week of April. You can imagine that a bill for November and December 2015 you are giving it to us in March to go and share to clients.

When the state government stepped into the system, what was your experience? When we went to share these bills to clients, some of the clients brought out evidence to show that they have gone to pay into the supposed closed SEEFOR account which was supposed to be closed since October 2015 that they were still going to the banks to pay even as at that April, the account was still open to receive Deltans money in Asaba, for six months the account was still running.

Now some persons who are religiously paying into that account who knows the details of that account and who know how much they are supposed to pay because it is a fixed amount to each household still pay to that account because the information has not reached them that a new account has been opened by the state government. So a lot of millions of naira went into that same SEEFOR account.

As at the time we were sharing the November/December bill, a lot of persons have paid so there was no need for them to go and pay again but they still took the bill. In that same April, they now said we should share January, February and March. We took it from them and we went to share January, February and March in that same month of April.

So, we brought November/December and shared in April. January, February and March, shared it in April and the account opening from state government came to us at the end of February 2016. Now banks were rejecting clients payment base on the payment platform that there is no account like that while some banks were receiving others were rejecting.

What led to your protest? And monies were going into different accounts and the supposed account is named Ministry of Environment PSP account with an account number but unfortunately, the reverse was the case. Accounts were everywhere. We discovered one of the account with the name: Delta State Waste Resource which made us to protest that we have not been paid for five months on the 5th day of May 2016 12noon was when the Commissioner for Environment came to address us when we protested from Arcade to his office where we told him that this is the situation of things, he said that he was not aware of that account.

We gave him the account name and number alongside the PS of the ministry amidst media coverage and he promised that he was going to look into the account and we all applauded him and we left. Still, our money was not paid to us in that month. It went to the sixth month, which was now June, our money was not still paid to us.

How did the state government did her screening? To our greatest surprise, we saw a publication both on print and electronic media that the governor said they should do a revalidation so that interested PSPs that want to do this work should come and register with the local government and should come with the required equipment: at least two tipping trucks, three years working experience, three years task clearance either expired or still valid, prove of ownership, evidence of CAC, form 1&2. Just the same process that SEEFOR screened us with in 2014 was same process they came up with.

It was a template they borrowed from SEEFOR and we all came. Within 48 hours and that we should pay N10, 000 to SURE-P account of Oshimili North Local Government and we all came with our trucks and everything. The 41 PSPs and other interested contractors came and they all displayed their trucks. So in the process of the screening, some persons who we don’t know as part of our business came with hired trucks and even some of our members whom we know do not have the equipment during the time of SEEFOR who went to hire trucks and were doing the job and some of our members even when SEEFOR was paying them refused to purchase trucks for the business, went to hire tipper (911) that carries sands and other trucks from Onitsha to showcase because they don’t want to pushed out from the job and that was how it went and everybody were screened.

To our greatest surprise, a result came that only 17 persons were taken from the 41 that met the criteria. So, we were now surprised and the president of the association met with the Commissioner and he said the governor called them to say that Asaba is dirty and they now told the governor that Asaba is dirty because the 41 PSPs that are doing the job have politicians and civil servants in their midst that is why the town is dirty.

That those politicians and civil servants came into the business because SEEFOR was paying N300, 000 to the PSPs monthly. Now that SEEFOR has stopped paying N300, 000 monthly, those politicians are tired of the job. So the governor now directed them that they should go and do screening and revalidation to remove those civil servants and people who do not have the requirement and that are not ready to do the job and replaced them with new ones.

But to our greatest surprise, it is even those that have brown new trucks like myself, my truck is less than one year old. I have been able to buy three trucks since the inception of SEEFOR. I was using one when SEEFOR came, I bought another one when SEEFOR started and when SEEFOR was about leaving because I know as they are about to leave, it won’t be business as usual.

I won’t be getting the N300, 000 as I use to get from them, I have to buy another strong truck for N1.8 million on loan to complement the ones I have because waste management is an intensive business, it is capital intensive and you need to have good trucks for it and that was how it all happened.

The 17 they took, have two civil servants and four or five politicians among them. One of the civil servants is the former PS, Ministry of Environment who came into this business during the time of SEEFOR, her name is Mrs. Felicia Adum, she is now PS Art and Culture while the next person is the Director Legal, Waste Management Board, she entered this business in 2010, when Waste Management Board did the zoning.

That was when she entered the business, so she has been in the business even before SEEFOR came, she is still part of the 17, her name is Barr. Nwanze, now she is in the Ministry of Justice.

Did you discover any fraud in the process that brought in these 17 persons on board? Then, politicians are all involved. Among the 17, the local government chairman, Barr. Chuks Obusom, who did the screening with the committee they said the governor set up gave his chamber Madumeze and Madumeze & Co. if not his chamber, it is a chamber that he has served a zone, the major road and the company does not have a truck, they went to Onitsha to hire a compactor truck to do the screening that day and part of the screening, you said three years’ experience. Madumeze and Madumeze & Co. has not done this job before and he does not have that truck in his name, he went to hire it to showcase.

That was where the fraud came in and we believed that this process was taking longer because there was fraud in the monetary aspect that they were defrauding the state government because they were opening fictitious accounts and these accounts, we don’t have access to them.

Even the Ministry of Environment account that was opened in our company’s name to the 160 contractors in each zone, we don’t have access to that account that clients are paying money into. They are the ones that knows how much enters the accounts and how much they will give to us.

Who are the “they”? The government in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment. Because this process came in when SEEFOR have handed over to the Ministry of Environment in October 2015, with this present Commissioner. We don’t have access to that money. So that was where we shouted fraud.

How can a man be working for you for over six months without pay? And he has seven staff that the SEEFOR has handed over to him, he needs to pay them and people were paying into the account of SEEFOR and the new account that you brought to us at end of February, when people started getting issues and even some of them where been turned back.

Even some clients refused to pay because they said there was fraud everywhere and the billing agent that they said they brought came up with a payment system which he called ‘pay direct’. That when you pay, the money hits the Ministry of Environment account; 30 percent and 70 per cent goes to the company’s account. It was not like that, the thing was jamming, monies were missing and people were showing tellers that they have paid and the money was not reflecting in the supposed account, not knowing that there were other accounts that money were entering that we are not aware of and we don’t have access to those money. That was where the fraud started!

Now the Ministry of Environment is indicting us, the PSPs that we went out to start collecting money from clients which originally they said we should not collect. But it is not in any MoU, there is no written document to that effect where they told us not to collect money from clients and where they told us that we have 70/30 agreement.

It was only a resolution to that 70/30 sharing formula but an agreement document has not been signed to that effect.

Knowing there was an agreement between you and the state government. What pushed you to be collecting money from clients? So, when we saw that we needed to make Asaba clean and we needed money to fuel our vehicles and pay our staff as some of our staff were dropping and embarrassing us, most of our clients, we now have to meet them for them to pay because some of them said they can go to the bank. Let me pay and you carry my waste, so we started collecting money from those ones who were ready to pay us money by hand to go and buy dessel for the truck and see how we can offset some bills of our staff to ensure that Asaba is clean.

That was what pushed us. You were owing us six months, we didn’t see the money. When SEEFOR was working, we were doing it and before SEEFOR came, we were getting our money every month from our clients. So there was no reason for the town to be dirty.

They refused to tell the governor the truth. They are lying to the governor. If they had told the governor that they have not paid these people for six months that is why the town is dirty. The impression they are giving the governor is that we went to collect money by hand. Invariably, they are telling the governor that we are collecting government money but I want to stand here to tell the governor that there was no MoU to that effect, no written document to that effect that we should share 70/30 and that we should not collect money by hand.

We were forced to collect money by hand when in six months we were not getting money for the job we were doing and we needed to keep the workers in Delta State that the SEEFOR has given us to key into his SMART agenda of job creation and human capital development, we started collecting money to clean the state. We needed money to clean the state; to buy fuel and pay the staff. That was what prompted us to start collecting money from people but that is what they are holding against us the PSPs that we went to collect money by hand and that is why there is no money in the account.