The head of ZL Global Alliance Nigeria Limited, Dr Abiola Bashorun, accused the Ondo State Government on Friday of not keeping their end of the deal signed for waste management in the state.
The state government hired ZL Global Alliance to handle waste management in the state a few years ago, but recently, the two parties have not been in agreement about the contract.
The state's Environment Commissioner, Mr Oyeniyi Oseni, had previously stated that the government had terminated the contract with the waste management company due to the latter's alleged failure to meet expectations, but the company's GMD, Bashorun, insisted that the contract with the government was still valid.
Oseni mentioned that the government had chosen to stop working with the company and had started involving Private Sector Participants in waste collection and ensuring proper environmental sanitation.
He stated, “The waste private company (ZL Global) has failed us, we would collect all our equipment from them. We need the PSP to be back to work on all their zones. I want to also make it clear that we are not owing any partner, we are not owing ZL Global.”
However, the ZL Global boss claimed that the state government had not been fulfilling their part of the contract by making monthly payments to her company as agreed upon, and she insisted that the contract was still valid.
She said the contract was signed in 2015 and modified in 2019 and 2023.
“The ZL Global Alliance is the major partner of the state government in the private sector and our contract is with Ondo State government. I want to say categorically that none of our contracts with the Ondo State government has neither elapsed, expired nor recalled.
“The contract we are holding is a concessional agreement signed by all the three arms of power in Ondo State. If you are seeing some service issues, it is because the government has not paid us this year.
“It is worthy of note that this has become customary that the Waste Management Authority finds it difficult to process payment on time amidst these economic challenges.
“Diesel price has gone up by 200 per cent, and all lines of indices to this contract have gone up. So, we wait for them to pay for the contract to continue.
“In line with the contract, Ondo State pays monthly and this is the end of the first quarter and we have not received a dime from the government.
“Although just now, I got information that our payment for January is being processed. We await the payment and will do the needful after payment. So people should disregard any information that is contrary to this,” Bashorun explained
