Scrap dealers threaten strike action and here’s why it’s your business

It is not exactly your business that the National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria (NASWDEN) wants to go on strike; it is your concern why they want to do so.

NASWDEN is a trade union representing people and businesses involved in the scrap and waste-dealing space. Its mandate as an organisation is to turn “waste to wealth.”

You are not a waste worker, but you are a homeowner. You don’t own a home, but you use bridges, roads, and other building structures. Then the strike is definitely your business.

In your street, you see scrap collectors fling sacks over their shoulders or push carts as they go from home to home in search of waste scrap metal or rubbish electrical appliances.

These individual scrap collectors move through neighbourhoods, workshops, construction sites, mechanic yards, dumpsites and other places looking for discarded metal. 

Normally, the individual collector doesn’t have enough material to deal directly with a large steel company. Instead, they take what they have gathered to a scrap dealer who buys from multiple collectors and accumulates a much larger quantity.

Once the dealer has accumulated sufficient material, it is loaded onto trucks and transported to a steel mill, recycling facility or other industrial buyer. 

Regulating this chain of business is NASWDEN.

Aminu Hassan Soja, the union’s deputy national president, says in a statement that the strike would commence on October 1. 

Among many reasons the union gave for its decision, they said that some iron companies purchased scraps from uncertified or unregistered dealers and agents. 

“The purchase of scrap from unregistered dealers and agents must be properly regulated and verified to ensure that materials entering the steel industry are obtained through legitimate channels,” Soja said.

Either you have heard about collectors sneaking into houses or compounds to steal metals and other electrical appliances under the guise of picking scraps, or you have scrolled the internet enough to see videos of them vandalising bridges, rail tracks and other structures just to remove metals holding those structures.

This report, and this one of scrap collectors vandalising public infrastructure to pick metal, are a few of many examples of why you should be concerned if they are allowed to operate unchecked.

NASWDEN certification or registration does not totally curb this menace, but its strike means one less regulator. Its absence is tantamount to taking one leg off an already shaky table.

Another reason NASWDEN gave for its upcoming strike is that some iron and steel companies had repeatedly cut scrap metal prices with little or no prior notice, leaving dealers who had already purchased and transported the materials at higher prices to suffer significant losses. 

“The incessant and deliberate reduction in the prices of scrap metals without adequate prior notice has placed considerable financial pressure on our members,” Soja added.

“Another concern is the alleged increasing involvement of foreigners in the scrap metal business, including the establishment of dumpsites and collection centres across the country.”

By Akinjide Adebowale