THE CHALLENGE OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN LAGOS

27 Jul THE CHALLENGE OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN LAGOS

A Global Concern

A recent United Nations Report has posited that while developing countries are improving in areas of portable water, most especially in Sub Sahara Africa are still burdened by sanitation and waste management problems. There is no gain saying that greater percentage of the population, mainly women and children would be affected by potential illnesses if nothing is done to improve the situation. Experts and analysts alike from WHO and UNICEF are of the opinion that Sustainable Development Goals can not be complete if waste management in developing countries is not a priority.

The challenge of waste management is a global issue no doubt, but some nations have developed tremendously successful unique home-made solutions while others are still struggling. One of the sign posts of uneven development or cluster industrialization is overpopulation as citizens migrate in droves for economic reasons, improved standard of living and job opportunities to those areas. Cities in West Africa, especially Lagos are mostly affected by increased population and attendant waste management problems. Waste control and management must be timely addressed as it leads to reduction in risks of avoidable diseases and possible deaths.  Poor implementation of MDGs which made adequate sanitation and waste disposal a priority in the country has worsened the situation and overwhelmed health institutions.

Closer Home – Local Realities

Lagos as the most populated city in Nigeria, is credited with producing the largest chunk of both industrial and municipal wastes, and incidentally lacked effective and ethical method of waste handling in place. Industrial and domestic sewage wastes are barely treated or processed before discharged into water bodies thus harming aquatic ecosystems. A city built in 1950s with population of about 300,000 inhabitants, grew to 17 Million (NPC) by 2006, and now going by current realities has outstripped 20 Million people albeit unofficial. State Government believed the city is growing by 500,000 people annually. Lack of basic waste management infrastructure coupled with city’s congestion problems makes this difficult to manage. In many communities around Lagos, it is easy to find people living in slums and dangerous places like landfill sites, which are not properly run and leaves the city with terrible environmental pollution problems. One of the results of lack of adequate waste management facilities and poor waste consciousness is people leaving and dumping sewage in gutters, water ways and littering. These materials build up over time to block water passages in residential areas which ultimately leads to flooding.

To be continued on the next edition