The Ogun State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, passed into law a bill to regulate the activities of scavengers and waste dealers in the state.

The bill titled the Scavengers and Waste Dealers Law, 2025, was passed during the plenary at the House of Assembly complex in Abeokuta to promote public order, environmental safety, and peaceful coexistence, and for related matters.

The passage followed the presentation of the report by the chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Samusideen Lawal (PDP Ogun-Waterside), who thereafter moved for its adoption.

The motion for its adoption was seconded by the minority leader, Lukman Adeleye (PDP-Odogbolu), and supported by all the lawmakers through a unanimous voice vote.

The bill was later read and adopted clause by clause before the Committee of the Whole House, after which the majority leader, Yusuf Sherrif (APC Ado-Odo/Ota 1), moved the motion for the third reading.

The clerk/head of legislative service, Sakiru Adebakin, subsequently read the bill for the third time before the lawmakers.

The speaker, Oludaisi Elemide, thereafter directed that the clean copy of the bill be forwarded to Governor Dapo Abiodun for his assent.

On February 11, the Ogun Assembly contended before the passage of the bill for second reading that it would empower communities to restrict the operations of scavengers in their areas.

The lawmakers held that the bill would ensure accountability by mandating the registration of all scavengers with the Ministry of Environment, law enforcement agencies, and community leaders.

The bill aims to protect the environment by creating a structured and monitored framework for waste recycling and disposal.

In another development, the assembly has again invited all stakeholders involved in the now rested Anchor Borrowers Programme, an initiative of the federal government in conjunction with the state government.

The invitation arose due to allegations of ongoing illegal withdrawals of personal savings from innocent farmers who were victims of the programme.

The speaker issued the invitation in response to the minority leader’s presentation, which cited Order 8 (47) and requested that stakeholders appear before the state lawmakers on October 21.

He earlier explained that the previous interface with the stakeholders, including the officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Wema Bank, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, State Ministry of Agriculture, and Cassava Farmers Association, and others, had not yielded the desired result.

According to him, many victims of the Anchor Borrowers Programme are still experiencing illegal withdrawal of their personal funds without benefiting from the programme.

He said that there was a need to invite the stakeholders again, as many of them were being held liable to repay loans they never received.

The lawmaker added that the farmers’ personal money was reportedly withdrawn from their accounts without notice, years after the programme had ended.

(NAN)