National President, Waste Management Society of Nigeria (WAMASON), Professor Oladele Osibanjo has adduced reasons why Nigeria still faces challenges in the area of waste disposal, despite many decades of nationhood.
In an interview with Ecoscope, Professor Osibanjo said,“Before independence the population was small, and there was so much space so people could just dump things anywhere. Our population from 1960 till today has almost tripled. So, the population is increasing very fast, urbanisation is increasing very fast. But the problem we have is that the waste is being generated faster than it is being collected. So, collection is lagging behind generation.”
Osibanjo said the failure of government to place priority on waste had exacerbated the issue.
“Government does not recognise waste collection as an important public service. They only give little money for it when doing allocation. By constitution, local governments are in charge of waste collection. But what has happened is that the local governments that have been given responsibility of waste collection does not have the funds. The budget for waste collection is so small. So right now, less than 50 per cent of the waste is collected.
“There was no planning because waste was never an issue to government. You see that in old areas and houses the trucks cannot gain access to where they are. That’s why people put their waste on the medians and at the bus stop. Because funding is poor, waste may be collected just once in two weeks if you are lucky.”
Professor Osibanjo said that as a result of irregular collection of waste products, people tended to indiscriminate dumping of waste. “When you tell people to bring their waste to the main road, they just throw it anywhere and in every space.”
The specialist in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry said, “The problem is that we are not practising waste management; what we are practising is waste disposal.”
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