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 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.
He explained that the aim is to boost scrap business in Nigeria and improve the image of the association even as he hinted that the association will work with law enforcement agencies to crack down on unregistered dealers and those involved in illegal activities.
He said that membership of the association would offer benefits, including being part of the association’s database comprising about seven million members at the moment.
The chairman said that misconceptions about dealing on scrap and waste needed to be eliminated and that it was high time every individual in the line of business came under the umbrella of NASWDEN.
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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.
He said that members of the association had continued to experience challenges such as extortion and multiple ticketing, urging that these should be addressed.
The Chairman of NASWDEN, Lagos State Chapter, Mr Adedotun Adewale, said that the association’s database would be automated.
He said that the 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 data base 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 said.
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