EVALUATING THE
PROBLEMS OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
Solid
wastes comprise all the wastes arising from human and animal activities that
are normally solid, discarded as useless or unwanted. Also included are by-
products of process lines or materials that may be required by law to be disposed
of (Okecha 2000). Solid waste can be classified in a number of ways, on the
basis of sources, environmental risks, utility and physical property. On the
basis of source, solid wastes are again classified as: Municipal Solid Wastes, Industrial
Solid Wastes and Agricultural Solid Wastes. Nigeria’s major urban centres are
today fighting to clear mounting heaps of solid waste from their environments.
These strategic centres of beauty, peace and security are being overtaken by
the messy nature of over flowing dumps unattended heaps of solid wastes
emanating from household or domestic or kitchen sources, markets, shopping and
business centres. City officials appear unable to combat unlawful and haphazard
dumping of hazardous commercial and industrial wastes which are a clear
violation of the clean Air and Health Edicts in our environmental sanitation
laws, rules and regulation.
Refuse
generation and its likely effects on the health, quality of environment and the
urban landscape have become burning national issues in Nigeria today. All
stakeholders concern with the safety and the beautification of our environment have
come to realize the negative consequences of uncleared solid human wastes
found in residential neighbourhoods,
markets, schools, and central business districts in our cities. These solid
wastes have become recurring features in our urban environment. It is no longer
in doubt that Nigerian cities are inundated with the challenges of uncleared
solid wastes. As a result, urban residents are often confronted with the
hazardous impact to their collective health and safety.
A
United Nations Report (August 2004) noted with regret that while developing
countries are improving access to clean drinking water they are falling behind
on sanitation goals. At one of its summit in 2000 (Uwaegbelun 2004) revealed
that The World Health Organization-(WHO 2004) and United Nations International Children
Education Fund- (UNICEF 2004) joint report in August 2004 that: “about 2.4
billion people will likely face the risk of needless disease and death by the
target of 2015 because of bad sanitation”. The report also noted that bad
sanitation – decaying or non-existent sewage system and toilets- fuels the
spread of diseases like cholera and basic illness like diarrhea, which kills a
child every 21 seconds.
The hardest hit by bad sanitation is
rural poor and residents of slum areas in fast-growing cities, mostly in Africa
and Asia. In 1992, the “Earth Summit” succeeded in alerting the conscience of
the world to the urgency of achieving environmentally sustainable development.
The Summit asserted that if we know enough to act today, then we must also find
answers to many tough conceptual and technical questions that have remained
unsolved over time. It affirms that rapid urbanization in developing world if
ignored can be a threat to health, the environment and urban productivity.
Cities are the engines of economic growth,
but the environmental implications of such growth need to be assessed and
managed better. The critical and most immediate problems facing developing countries
and their cities are the health impact of urban pollution that are derived from
inadequate water services, poor urban and industrial waste management, as well
as air pollution, especially from particulates which constitutes part of solid
waste.
Among the pressing environmental and
public health issues in Nigeria today is the problem of solid waste generation
and disposal. The problem of solid waste management is a historical one because
man’s existence is inextricably linked to the generation of waste. The problem
is becoming intractable as many cities in developing countries cannot keep pace
with urbanization, pollution, and the increasingly concomitant generation of
garbage due to changing life styles and consumption patterns.
The mountainous heaps of solid wastes
that deface Nigerian cities and the continuous discharge of industrial
contaminants into streams and rivers without treatment motivated the federal government
of Nigeria to promulgate Decree 58 for the establishment of Federal
Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) on 30 December 1988 (Federal Military
Government 1988).
A national policy on the environment
was formed and the goals of the policy include: to secure for all Nigerians a
quality of environment adequate for their health and well being; to raise
public awareness and promote understanding of the essential linkages between the
environment and development; and to encourage individual and community
participation in environmental protection and improvement efforts (FEPA 1989).
As regards the solid waste sector, the specific actions desired include
collection and disposal of solid waste in an environmentally safe manner; setting
up and enforcement of laws, regulations, and standards; encouragement of public
participation; environment monitoring and imposition of penalties on defaulters
to encourage compliance (FEPA 1989; FRN 1991).
In spite of the formulation of FEPA and
a national environmental policy, the environment has not been adequately
protected. Interest is mainly on aesthetics, which is rarely achieved (Agunwanba
1998). Wastes collection is irregular and restricted to the major cities.
Improperly sited open dumps deface several cities, thereby endangering public
health by encouraging the spread of odors and diseases, uncontrolled recycling
of contaminated goods and pollution of water sources (Adegoke 1989, Singh 1998).
Sadly, there seems a resignation to the
unremitting solid wastes build up by the relevant authorities, where such
bodies exist at all. However, in reactions to the inescapable environmental impact
of delay in solid wastes removal, the federal government for example,
introduced the monthly environmental sanitation in the early seventies. There
from the States and Local Governments were expected to take a cue and evolve their
own solid wastes management (SWM) strategies based on the peculiarities of
their environment.
Each state had in the process of
mitigating urban solid wastes, set up Wastes Management Boards (WMB) in
attempts to tackle the occurrence of wastes and their hazards to society as a
whole. While the unhealthy aspects of abandoned solid wastes can be contained,
the more avoidable features of blocked drains, traffic impedance and floods
have yet to be fully tackled.
One resonant feature common in the
wastes build-up and emanating environmental degradation scenarios is the high
cost or capital intensive nature of its amelioration as well as tackling the
solid wastes menace. It requires a lot of financial and human capital to
minimize and attempt to eradicate the adverse effects of exposed and untreated
solid wastes in our urban centres.
It is expected that government would in
due course arrive at the means to combat solid wastes and reduce their negative
impact on area residents and the perception of our cities as being dirty,
chaotic, and full of traces of rotting or fermenting garbage that emit odours harmful
to the human body. Obviously, the timely removal of accumulated solid wastes
require much more than our governments at all levels are presently engaged in.
Further plans, policies and programs would need to be put on a more permanent
basis in order to combat the dastardly effects of environmental degradation.
Understandably, it would require effective mobilization of resources such as
involving all stakeholders in regular counter measure to suppress uncontrolled
solid wastes generation and irregular disposal outside city confines
altogether.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
As
a result of increased urbanization and infrequent environmental sanitation exercises,
urban residents dump solid wastes carelessly or haphazardly – anywhere they
deem fit. Such controversial tendencies and attributes would seem
incomprehensible; if we desire to live in beauteous environments. Some of the
lagoon front in the country has been turned into a dump for human and all sorts
of solid waste. Trucks fully loaded with feces queue up in large numbers to
discharge the contents into the lagoon (Njoku 2006). Environmental experts are
of the view that the implication of this practice is very grave. The failure of
relevant agencies to stem the tide of reckless waste dumping and littering of
Nigerian cities’ infrastructure (streets and roads) and surrounding bushes
indicate a clear pattern of non-enforcement or non-implementation of existing
environmental sanitation laws.
Irregular
and unplanned dumping of solid wastes, especially at night, which are often in
gross violation of relevant rules and regulations continue to hinder plan
preparations and effective land use delineation which were expected to usher in
a beautiful, clean and orderly environment. Consequently, there remains a huge
gap between policy formulation, execution and implementation which exacerbate
the problem of solid waste management in Nigerian cities which necessitate the
need to evaluate the problems of solid waste management in Nigeria by the
researcher.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
following are the objective of this study:
1. To
evaluate the problems of solid waste management in Nigeria.
2. To
examine the consequences of poor solid waste management in Nigeria.
3. To
identify the strategies than has been adopted in solid waste management in
Nigeria.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What
are the problems of solid waste management in Nigeria?
2. What
are the consequences of poor solid waste management in Nigeria?
3. What
are the strategies than has been adopted in solid waste management in Nigeria?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO:
Solid waste management has not been effective in Nigeria.
HA:
Solid waste management has been effective in Nigeria.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
following are the significance of this study:
1. This
study will educate the general public, stakeholders in environmental
management, students, government and policy makers on the problems of solid
waste management focusing on Nigeria with a view of identifying management
strategies to combat the menace associated with poor solid waste management.
2. This
research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers
interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently, if
applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic.
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study on the evaluation of problems of solid waste management in Nigeria will
cover all issues related to solid waste management system in Nigeria. It will
cover the attitude of Nigerians to solid waste management, policies and
regulatory framework.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will
simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently
will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Solid
waste: means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control
facility and other discarded materials including solid, liquid, semi-solid,
or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining
and agricultural operations
Pollution:
the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance which has
harmful or poisonous effects.
Environment:
the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or
operates.
Management:
the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.
REFERENCES
Adegoke OS
1989. Waste Management within the Context of Sustainable Development. Proceedings
of the Environment and Sustainable Development in Nigeria Workshop, 25 – 26
April, Abuja Nigeria, pp. 103 – 110.
Agunwamba
1998. Solid waste management in Nigeria problems and issues. Environmental
Management, 22(6): 849 – 856.
Federal
Military Government 1988. Federal Environmental Protection Agency Decree No.
58: A 911 – A 932.
FEPA 1998
(Federal Environmental Protection Agency). 1989. National Policy on the
Environment. Nigeria: FEPA, P. 22.
FRN
(Federal Republic of Nigeria) 1991. Official Gazette 78 (42): B15 – B37.
Njoku Jude
2006. Iddo: Where human waste is dumped with impunity. Vanguard, Monday,
September 18, 2006, P. 42.
Okecha SA
2000. Pollution and Conservation of Nigeria Environment. T Afrique
International Associates Owerri Nigeria
Singh SK
1998. Solid waste management: An overview of environmental pollution. Environmental
Control Journal, I(3): 50-56.
Uwaegbulam
Chinedu 2004. World is meeting goals of safe drinking water but falling behind
on sanitation, says UN. The Guardian, Monday, August 30, 2004. P. 50.