Thursday 5 July 2018

"Our waste to wealth is a reality"- Mrs Lolade Oresanwo; West African Energy Director Operation, OYOWMA

From the primordial we have known women are the best manager to eke out a living and considering computer age especially with the emergence of some more enlightened and educated women-folks managing some aspects of responsibilities at offices, in some organizations; then seeing some women at their seats of responsibilities and sections of work, one would surely agree to the fact that women are truly the best manager indeed, to coordinate both human and natural resources well, no matter the level of it, to succeed, in achieving the best ever known- success and this is exactly what Mrs Lolade Oresanwo is rightly doing, with an obvious attestation; that she is doing well at her place of work, in the section of Oyo State Waste Management; right acting as Operation Manager for West African Energy.

What has been your challenges thus far, in the course of your service to the residence in Oyo State and Ibadan especially?

One of the biggest challenges our contractors are facing is the attitude of our people , about sixty percentage are happy, want to pay and patronize our contractors, there is a problem of some percentage who feels the collection should be free  and it is the government responsibility to collect their waste , I mean there is a lesson there , people needs to know the advantage of dealing with clearing waste around them than sitting on it, and they also need to know that the contractors too need to run the cost of  running the business at the expenses and maintain the vehicle they use , to collect the waste . I think balancing both; that it is the challenge and definitely we are overcoming them. I'm proud to say about seventy  percentage of Oyo State have been covered, some parts that have not been is as a result of accessibility, which we are working with the community on right now, to provide bins , to ensure that there are bins liners, we thank the excellency for supporting us so much, for supporting us, because he wants a situation where bins-liners would be provided to those community we cannot reach, community based service would be provided  to those places, like Bere, Oje, so that we can be able to go there and access these places easier and this year have been particularly good because even with the incessant rain; we have been having people that are bringing out their waste, we have not  hear of flooding , as they now know you don't have to put your waste in the flood, because they have been putting them in the flood before , the awareness has improved people now, to know that it is not about draining,but to encourage them have clean environment in a sustainable manner and the good news is that today; we have very, very, good companies that are willing to partner with us, even West African Energy ; it has started with a company who with disposable-glass will be recycling into nylon in Oyo State today in Oluyole , there are several companies sponsoring us, there is a company that is now going to produce compose from disposable-waste that we are collecting from households and markets, so improvement are accomplished and we are very, very, happy about that.

How often do you have interface with your contractors?

Oh, we have stakeholders' meeting with our contractors regularly, because of the new technology we are having today, when chat is shown easily, we have a group chat with our contractors immediately they face a challenge, they post it on a group chat, so that other contractors could learn and work together and it is quite easy for us to work together .

How far have you gone with the enlightenment of the public, those customers of yours particularly?

Yes, we have an enlightenment team that goes out especially in the area of market, particularly in the area we have especially market, the small community are fine , but it is only the market we have problems with and it is only those markets we are definitely sure that with continuous enlightenment and advocacy they will comply, out of the numerous markets ; over fifty-million in Ibadan, we have been able to drive about twenty-five thousand to comply, even Bodija market we have a conversation about their waste and now they have engaged the contractors , Alesinloye, Oje markets are doing the same, all are paying the contractors, the education is really working, as it is not everytime we have to be using force or shout at people you have to do it, it is actually trying to let them see the problems associated to not doing things at the right time.

Definitely this is public-oriented strategic approach, can we say you are making enough to compensate all the effort in cost and commitment you give?

We are covering our cost, the profit is going to come from having  additional people , who will ensure their waste is collected by the registered contractors, we have appealed to them to pay the contractors that are doing the work, because they want the city and state to be clean, and there is a commitment to the transformation , restoration agenda, of his excellency and to ensure that Oyo State is restored back to its glory, transforming the city from being the dirtiest, thank God we don't have that name again, so the transformation agenda and the restoration we have to ensure that we key into it, so it is not just about the profit but to restore Oyo State back to its glory and our contractors are fully engaged and aware hence I'm proud to be part of that.

Where are you coming from and who are you?

My name is Lolade Oresanwo , I'm a daughter of the soil, I'm a local person, most of our staff are local ,even some are double in-depth related and we pride ourselves in using local content and intelligence to build and do the best of our work , we have experience doing our work the best it should be.

What is your antecedent?

We are not just new, we do waste management and we have been doing it for long.

Are you a workaholic with what we saw about your promptness and passion for the job, quite some minutes ago we have been here , seeing you having series of meeting with your members of staff?

That is all what we do, that is the name of the game and we work so that we can do the best and that is the only way we can do it to make us happy hence we have to work , at least today is Monday, so we have to work , considering that our staff have to be occupied, to work, we need to plan and know where we are going by the end of the week and to make sure the people that are committed, collecting the waste of the state are happy, those women; seventy-five percentage of our staff are women, we need to make sure they are happy and that they are well equipped ,with the proper pp, to get their jobs done.

What is the work force and are the youth really benefiting under your management, in respect of employment?

It is mostly the youth we are engaging, that is what we are advocating, there is a lot of opportunity , but you have to put your head down, you have to be dogged, determined and work hard, I believe in growing organic resource from the organization, we don't need to bring anybody from the outside to solve our local  problem, because the problems are local to us and we should be able to solve our problems ourselves internally. and to be frank with you our waste to wealth is a reality.

Ma, whoever see you will know you have passion for what you are doing, then what is your philosophy of life, how do you take life and what do you count life to be all about?

Life is not about enjoying the most of time, life is hard, circumstances around everybody is hard, that is why you have got to make sure of what you have and that is what I'm doing, I make sure any circumstances I found myself I make sure I put in my best and that is what I take my enjoyment from and that is why I'm happy.

This was how we came to the end,of our exclusive interview with this rare woman of excellence in management, who with courtesy and good human relation responded well, to enlighten us better, about the state of things,in respect of waste management under her responsibility at the Oyo State Waste Management Section tagged OYOWMA representing West African Energy.

     

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