LAGOS, ABUJA: CITIES OF REFUSE—1

Improper waste disposal is dangerous to lives and the environment

Lagos is under the siege of solid waste. Inappropriate disposal of waste has almost turned many parts of the state into an environmental nightmare. This is gravely concerning because the once enviable waste management system in the state is now struggling for lack of optimal functionality of their infrastructure. The situation is not different at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja where many areas, including highbrow districts, are littered with mountains of refuse. With what has become a national attitude to waste disposal, environmental contamination is rife. And it is no surprise that cholera has become a seasonal disease that kills hundreds of Nigerians every year. But it is a shame that authorities in both the old and new capital cities of the country are failing in waste management.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Muyiwa Gbadegesin, says 16,000 tonnes of waste are generated daily in Lagos, and five dumpsites are working and accessible: Olusosun at Ojota; Soulus at Igando; Iya Afin in Badagry; Ewuelepe in Ikorodu; ⁠and Oke Oso in Epe. However, for the past six months, waste has inundated many parts of Lagos State, and this, according to operators in the sector, is due to infrastructure and capacity deficit in the area of final disposal/dump sites and operational dumpsters. The situation became unbearable last December during the festive season, when long stretch of waste was seen on the express roads.

Some owners of companies engaged by the government to collect waste from neighbourhoods for disposal at the dumpsites, known as PSP (Private Sector Participants) are even embarrassed. The National President of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, Olugbenga Adebola, said a major challenge is that most of the disposal sites “are near end-of-life or almost filled up”.  During the rainy season when many sites are not easily accessible, operators are unable to collect and dump as and when due. There is an even greater challenge, which comes in the form of a dwindling number of dumpsters, most of which are unserviceable. With all this crisis, Adebola said, “We are looking at increasing the capacity of the trucks of the operators to boost their capacity and address this aspect of the troubling infrastructural deficit.”

Many residents also contribute to the environmental hazards by not paying for the evacuation of their waste, preferring to dump them at street corners in the cover of darkness or throw them out of the windows of moving vehicles. This is why the agency in charge must ensure that each household has a waste bin in their frontage in addition to prompt payment of cost-reflective tariff for waste disposal.

It has been confirmed that except for the Soulus dumpsite that is open for partial operation at night, others are going through the process of staged decommissioning. When they are later rehabilitated, Gbadegesin believes that they will positively affect the overall service delivery.

For now, Lagos residents should embrace responsible waste disposal practices that are central to achieving a cleaner, liveable, and sustainable city. But while Lagos is trying to deal with the challenge, there seems to be no such efforts in Abuja despite the heavy investment in infrastructural development.

· Concluded tomorrow