The National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers of Nigeria (NASWDEN) has given unregistered dealers a two-week ultimatum to join the association or face legal consequences.
Addressing newsmen on Tuesday – yesterday, December 31 – in Lagos, Alhaji Sarki Soja, Chairman, National Caretaker Committee of NASWDEN, said that full-scale enforcement would take effect at the expiration of the ultimatum.
According to him, the aim is to boost scrap business in Nigeria and improve the image of the association.
Soja said the association planned to work with law enforcement agencies to crack down on unregistered dealers and those involved in illegal activities.
He said membership of the association would offer benefits, including being part of the association’s database, adding that the association has more than seven million members at the moment.
The chairman said misconceptions about dealing in scrap and waste must be eliminated, explaining that it was high time every individual in the line of business came under the umbrella of NASWDEN.
Mr Lekan Adebakin, Secretary of the National Caretaker Committee of NASWDEN, said that governments should do more for the association, which he described as a major revenue earner.
According to him, members of the association have continued to experience challenges from multiple sources, such as extortion and multiple ticketing, urging that these be addressed.
The Chairman of NASWDEN, Lagos State Chapter, Mr Adedotun Adewale, however, assured that the association’s database would be automated.
He said members would receive identification cards and reflective jackets with codes to distinguish them as legitimate scrap dealers.
“We are taking steps to ensure that all criminals hiding under our business are brought to book.
“We are creating a strong database to checkmate the excesses, we will ensure that we have easier identification of genuine scrap dealers.
“We need to upgrade ourselves, we constitute the cleaner Lagos initiative,’’ he was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria as saying.
