To tackle cases of theft associated with local waste pickers, stakeholders have called for their proper identification to separate them from miscreants.

The call was made at a round table meeting on improving National Security Using Technology in the Informal Waste Management Sector held in Abuja, organized by a Non-Governmental Organization in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME).

In his address, the Director of Pollution and Environment, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mr. Usman Bokani, said there was a need for the Association of Waste Management and Association of Waste Pickers to have a means of identification of their members to separate them from these miscreants

He said: “The FME recognised that the waste pickers are among the principal actors in the waste management value chain because of the important role they play in creating value from the waste generated by others and in contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions.

He said the collaboration would sanitize and improve the activities of waste pickers in line with Nigeria’s National Security Strategy and promote a clean, safe and healthy environment.

The Director, of Abuja Environmental Protection Board, Mrs. Sherifatu Lawan, said that waste pickers locally known as Boola-Boola roaming the city in search of the so-called recyclables have been banned by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Muhammed Bello.

The Chief Executive Officer Ms. Funto, said her organization has been working with the waste pickers association for seven years while stressing that the meeting was to create awareness that waste pickers are not threats to the environment.

Ms. Funto however, disagreed that the majority of the waste pickers are criminals, saying that the organization is hoping to provide dignity of labor for the waste pickers to encourage them.

A representative of the FCT Police Command Mr Akinwale Akappo, said that the Nigerian Police is working to checkmate the activities of criminal waste pickers in the FCT.