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Visionscape Discloses How Technology Will Redefine Waste ‘Recovery’ In Lagos

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(L-r): Thomas Forgacs, chief operations officer, Visionscape; Adekunle Otusemade, executive secretary, Lagos State Environmental Trust Fund; Abiodun Bamigboye, permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Environment; Dr. Adejare Babatunde Samuel, commissioner for Environment, Lagos State and Babatunde Hunpe, special adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Environment, at the Cleaner Lagos initiative/Visionscape media workshop held in Lagos on Tuesday.
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Visionscape, a leading environmental utility group providing turnkey solutions in areas of sanitation, energy and wastewater treatment, has reiterated its commitment towards ridding streets of Lagos of wastes, transforming same to other useful items.

Actually, managing waste in the 21st century requires more than just a conventional approach of collection and disposal of waste, however, Visionscape is undeterred by the existing loopholes in waste management in the Lagos State in the recent past.

To this end, Visionscape commissioned by Lagos State Government to handle its waste matters, has partnered with technology leaders and ready to deploy RFID indent systems, UHF transponders and GPRS sensors in the management of wastes in the State.

The intent, Maimuna Malibe, manager, Environmental Product and Service Development at Visionscape, said, is essentially to ‘recover’ wastes, turning them to other useful ventures for the society.

Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek during a Cleaner Lagos initiative/Visionscape media workshop, on the sidelines of immediate measures in place to rid the streets of Lagos of waste dumps, she said that the company, through its 60-day intervention, is working assiduously on waste containment and will provide bins to residents, wastes collection, transportation, disposal, treatment and resources recovery.

Immediate Interventions
Malibe said, “The immediate intervention is covered in our 60-day programme to create awareness for Visionscape services and make sure there is no service gap in waste collection in Lagos State. Before we rolled out of compactors doo-to-door collection, we procured tippers that will collect wastes from blackspots, immediate environments and highways where wastes are indiscriminately dumped. For 60 days, which commenced on July 1, 2017, we are going to be collecting wastes. So, members of the public who spot any blackspot in their neighbourhood should reach out to Visionscape and we will clear it. That will proceed the commencement of our operations in September. The charges are at Visionscape’s costs.

“We are going to be involved in waste containment providing bins to residents, wastes collection, transportation, disposal, treatment and resources recovery. Basically, we are looking at the entire waste management chain; to create value out of waste. I like to say waste is not a waste until you waste it. It is always something to do with different materials we produce in our homes and in commercial places. Even a day old baby can produce wastes.

“So, at Visionscape, we are looking at different ways of converting the resources that we collect; it goes beyond collecting from the residence and go bury them at the landfill sites. We have the concession facilities that we have taken over the operations like the three transfer loading stations located in Agege, Oshodi and Tappa. They will provide the stop-gap for our operations. Therefore, we are trying to stop our trucks from traveling very far.

“Imagine the truck that has to travel from Badagry to the landfill in Epe; it doesn’t make any operational sense; in terms of our freight management and cost of operations. Thus, we have taken the concession of the three transfer stations in such that all the contractors- tricycles, pick-up trucks that collect wastes from the residents or communities, are going to dump wastes at the transfer-loading stations closest to that particular community”.

How Technological Will Redefine Waste Management in Lagos State
On technological interventions, she emphasized that Visionscape’s waste logistics set-up takes into considerations all relevant parameters including area population structure (densely or sparsely populated), dominant building structure, waste types and volume; and other geographical parameters for sequenced and optimized routing calculation.

Thus, technology enables to be deployed will assist them in real-time respond to existing and new orders via our automated order management platform which is visually supported and route optimized; utilise Modern GPS supported waste collection and monitoring system; manoeuvre through the hectic road traffic situation by selecting the most efficient and economical route for our complete fleet and view single vehicle and overlay of vehicles track.

According to the Manager, Environmental Product and Service Development at Visionscape, “each transfer stations has the capacity of about of between 1500-2000 tons per day. Lagos produces about 11,000 tons of waste per day. If you look at it, each transfer-loading station has the capacity to take off enough wastes to be collected in a particular shift. What is going to happen is, after dumping at the transfer-loading stations, we are going to be compacting the wastes for bulkers to move the wastes to the landfill sites. Our landfill site is going to be an engineered one with an eco-pack with sorting facilities. They shall be sorted into different components. So, there is a whole lot that goes into VisionScape’s processes, not just waste collection and disposal.

“So, our bins are going to be fitted with infrared and tags. There are going to be code attached to each bin; so we know the bin that is supposed to be in Ikeja, for Ikoyi and other places. If the bin that is supposed to be in Ikoyi miraculously finds itself in Epe, we would be able to tell that is a wrong spot for it.

“Our trucks too will have signals that will be able to open up the bin locations as they drive through the communities as well.

Plans for Recycling
For recycling, She said, “we have to start door-to-door collection, and will open recycling collection points in different wards. As we all know, there are 57 LCDAs in Lagos State and under them are 377 wards. So, what we are doing in recycling is we are taking it back to the grassroots, where waste is being produced. We know that some of the wastes are going to end at the transfer-loading stations and landfill sites, but we are trying to recover the wastes from point of collection. Eventually, we are going to end up with 377 collection points; we would encourage the people to swap plastics, papers and other wastes to receive some incentives”.


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NIA Questions Legality of Reps’ Financial Probe

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The Nigerian Insurers Association has urged the House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions to respect the constitutional separation of powers as it carries out a probe on over 20 insurance firms.

In a statement on Tuesday night, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NIA, Mrs Bola Odukale, said the decision of NIA and the affected firms to approach the court was to seek clarity on the constitutional limits of the House Committee’s probe.

It would be recalled that the House of Representatives on Monday is investigating no fewer than 25 insurance companies operating in the country for various financial infractions spanning financial reporting, claims settlement, premium remittance, and issuance of policies.

The Chairman, House Sub-Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Kwamoti Laori, during a meeting with the management of the insurance companies at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, said the meeting was convened following the receipt of a petition on infractions by the insurance companies.

In the statement, Odukale said, “The Association wishes to state unequivocally that all actions taken by the NIA and the affected member companies in response to the Committee’s invitations and pronouncements were based entirely on legal advice by its Solicitors. It was on the firm instruction of legal counsel that recourse was made to the courts.

“The objective of approaching the Court is to seek judicial guidance on the legality, propriety, and constitutional limits of the Committee’s intervention in order to safeguard institutional integrity, uphold regulatory independence, and ensure that legislative oversight remains within the bounds of law.

“The Court action seeks to determine whether the current posture of the Committee reflects an exercise of legislative judgment, which, by constitutional design, is the exclusive province of statutory regulators, such as the National Insurance Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Exchange, Financial Reporting Council, Nigeria Data Protection Commission, and the National Information Technology Development Agency.

“This raises serious questions about legislative overreach and an erosion of the doctrine of separation of powers, a cornerstone of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.”

Odukale maintained that the NIA was committed to lawful and constructive engagement with all arms of government, provided that such engagement respects the autonomy of statutory regulators and the boundaries established by the Constitution.

“The NIA will continue to provide its full support to all member companies while upholding the principles of legal compliance and sector-wide integrity,” Odukale concluded.

17 of the companies that went to court were represented by their lawyer, Mr Abimbola Kayode, at the meeting with the committee.


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Horn of Africa Leaders Seek Enhanced Digital Integration for Increased Regional Growth

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Finance ministers and development partners from the Horn of Africa have called for enhanced digital integration to boost trade, drive economic growth and promote regional stability during the 25th Ministerial Meeting of the Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI).

Held in Nairobi, on July 14, the meeting was co-chaired by the African Development Bank’s Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, Nnenna Nwabufo and Somalia’s Minister of Finance, Bihi Iman Egeh. Discussions underscored the critical role of digital integration in reducing trade barriers, boosting government service delivery and creating employment — particularly for the region’s youth.

“Digital technologies are shaping today’s economy and tomorrow’s industries. By embedding these technologies into our programs, we can not only improve inclusion but also leapfrog outdated development models,” said Nwabufo.

She called for digital integration a “central enabler” in each of the Horn of Africa Initiative’s pillars – trade, infrastructure, resilience, and human capital,

Learning through experience

Drawing from global and regional success stories, speakers highlighted the transformative potential of technology-led development. The ministers pointed to the Philippines as a strong example, where ICT has generated millions of jobs in business process outsourcing. Similarly, Kenya’s fintech innovation—especially the success of M-PESA—was cited as a model for scaling digital financial services across the region.

Participants urged governments to proactively foster digital ecosystems by capitalizing on the demographic dividend, identifying infrastructure upgrades, tighter regulatory reforms, and digital skills trainings as priorities to enable broader participation in the digital economy.

Minister Egeh reiterated the need for more coordinated regional efforts to create the enabling environment required for accelerated digital integration and expansion. He referenced the HoAI Digital Policy Matrix, adopted in 2023 which provides a blueprint on how to address key obstacles to achieving effective digital integration across the region.

Barack Makokha, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, underscored the importance of regionally-aligned public private partnerships and advocated for blended financing to reduce investment risk and expand digital access in underserved areas.

World Bank Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Ndiame Diop, called for a comprehensive multi-pronged approach, combining cross-border coordination, large-scale financing, robust policy support, and digital infrastructure investments. He pointed out that such measures could transform digital integration into, “a powerful engine of economic transformation” for the Horn of Africa—ensuring no one is left behind in the digital era.

The meeting concluded with a shared recognition that sustained political will and the determination to implement a multifaceted approach are essential to unlocking the region’s economic potential and driving long-term growth.

The event also welcomed observers from the East African Community, Agence française de développement, and Shelter Afrique, reflecting strong regional and international backing for the HoAI in the development community.


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CSCS Inaugurates Custodian Portal to Enhance Digital Access, Operational Efficiency

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Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), Nigeria’s capital market infrastructure provider, has launched its Custodian Portal, a user-centric digital solution designed to optimise custodian operations through intuitive, secure and efficient features.

Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CSCS, announced this in a statement on Monday.

The CSCS is a Public Limited Company with a diversified shareholder base, which serves as the Central Securities Depository for the Nigerian Capital Market.

It serves as the Central Depository for Equities, Commercial Papers, Corporate Bonds, Sub-National Bonds, certain Sovereign Bonds like the FGN Sukuk and the FGN Savings Bond, Equity-traded Funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts, Mutual funds and Commodities.

Jalo-Waziri said that the custodian portal offered a streamlined experience for market participants with powerful tools that facilitate comprehensive portfolio and trade management, document tracking, share transfer operations, client symbol search, and real-time access to vital data.

He explained that the portal, designed to operate through a flexible subscription-based model, empowered users to manage their records effortlessly and securely through convenient payment channels such as GTPay and Paystack.

According to him, “Digital transformation remains at the core of our strategy to enhance the efficiency, transparency and accessibility of Nigeria’s capital market services.

“The custodian portal is a significant leap in that direction, offering custodians a centralised platform to manage critical processes in real-time.

“We are excited about the value this innovation brings to our stakeholders, and we will continue to evolve the platform in line with users’ needs and industry trends.”

The CEO also explained that the portal was designed with user experience in mind with feature tools like portfolio viewing and downloads in PDF or Excel format.

He further said that it also featured tracking of stock movements across date ranges, inbox messaging and request tracking, as well as robust user management capabilities including role assignment and status tracking.

Similarly, the Divisional Head, Business Technology and Digital Innovation, CSCS Plc, Tobe Nnadozie, said that the portal aligned with CSCS’s drive to automate the market.

“In addition to the normal features, the platform is a part of an omnichannel platform for custodians, and includes API services.

“It also connects to the market-wide workflow, which CSCS has built to ensure secured communication and approvals across all major stakeholders in the market.

“The platform is well secured with best-of-breed cybersecurity solutions and our SOC,” he said.

The Custodian Portal reinforces CSCS’s commitment to leveraging technology to streamline back-office functions and support a more agile, data-driven capital market ecosystem.

All custodians in the Nigerian capital market have now been successfully on-boarded on the Custodian Portal, marking a significant milestone in CSCS’s ongoing drive to enhance collaboration, standardise operational processes, and promote digital adoption across the market.


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