PROBLEMS OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA
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PROBLEMS OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA
CHAPITRE ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Solid wastes are any wastes generated by human and animal activities that are generally solid and are thrown as worthless or unwanted. Also included are byproducts of process lines or things that must be disposed of by law (Okecha 2000).
Solid waste can be classed according to its source, environmental dangers, utility, and physical property. Solid wastes are further classed by source as Municipal Solid Wastes, Industrial Solid Wastes, and Agricultural Solid Wastes.
Today, Nigeria’s largest urban areas are battling to eliminate rising piles of solid garbage from their environments. These key hubs of beauty, tranquilly, and security are being engulfed by the disorderly character of overflowing dumps and neglected heaps of solid garbage emerging from household or domestic or kitchen sources, marketplaces, shopping malls, and corporate centres.
City officials appear incapable of combating illegal and unplanned dumping of dangerous commercial and industrial wastes, which is an obvious violation of our environmental sanitation laws, rules, and regulations.
Refuse creation and its potential implications on health, environmental quality, and urban landscape have emerged as pressing national issues in Nigeria today. All stakeholders concerned with the safety and beauty of our environment have recognised the detrimental effects of untreated solid human waste.
In our cities, you can find it in residential areas, markets, schools, and core business districts. These solid wastes have become common in our urban environment.
There is no doubt that Nigerian cities are plagued with the problems of untreated solid waste. As a result, city dwellers are frequently confronted with the risk to their collective health and safety.
While poor nations are improving access to safe drinking water, they are lagging behind on sanitation goals, according to a United Nations report published in August 2004. At one of its summits in 2000 (Uwaegbelun 2004), it was revealed that the World Health Organization-(WHO 2004)
and the United Nations International Children Education Fund-(UNICEF 2004) issued a joint report in August 2004 stating that “about 2.4 billion people are likely to face the risk of needless disease and death by the target of 2015 due to poor sanitation.”
The report also stated that poor sanitation, such as a deteriorating or non-existent sewage system and toilets, contributes to the development of diseases such as cholera and fundamental illnesses such as diarrhoea, which kills a child every 21 seconds.
The rural poor and residents of slum areas in rapidly rising cities, primarily in Africa and Asia, are the hardest afflicted by poor sanitation. The “Earth Summit” of 1992 was successful in raising global awareness of the importance of achieving environmentally sustainable development.
According to the Summit, if we know enough to act today, we must also find answers to many difficult philosophical and technical concerns that have remained unanswered over time. It confirms that ignoring growing urbanisation in emerging countries might endanger health, the environment, and urban production.
Cities are economic growth engines, but the environmental consequences of that growth must be adequately analysed and managed. The most pressing and immediate issues confronting developing countries
and their cities are the health consequences of urban pollution caused by inadequate water services, poor urban and industrial waste management, and air pollution, particularly from particulates that are part of solid waste.
Solid garbage generation and disposal is one of Nigeria’s most important environmental and public health challenges today. Because man’s existence is intrinsically related to trash generation, the challenge of solid waste management is a historical one.
The problem is growing intractable as many developing-country cities struggle to keep up with urbanisation, pollution, and the more concurrent generation of rubbish as lifestyles and consumption habits change.
The mountainous heaps of solid waste that deface Nigerian cities, as well as the continuous discharge of industrial contaminants into streams and rivers without treatment, prompted Nigeria’s federal government to issue Decree 58 on December 30, 1988, establishing the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA).
A national environmental policy was established, with the following goals: to ensure a quality of environment adequate for all Nigerians’ health and well-being; to raise public awareness and promote understanding of the critical links between the environment and development; and to encourage individual and community participation in environmental protection and improvement efforts (FEPA 1989).
In the solid waste sector, specific actions desired include environmentally safe solid waste collection and disposal, the establishment and enforcement of laws, regulations, and standards, the encouragement of public participation, environmental monitoring, and the imposition of penalties on defaulters to encourage compliance (FEPA 1989; FRN 1991).
Despite the establishment of FEPA and a national environmental policy, the environment has not been sufficiently safeguarded. The emphasis is mostly on aesthetics, which is rarely attained (Agunwanba 1998). Waste collection is sporadic and limited to major cities.
Open dumps that are improperly located deface various cities, compromising public health by fostering the spread of odours and diseases, uncontrolled recycling of polluted items, and poisoning of water sources (Adegoke 1989, Singh 1998).
Unfortunately, there appears to be a surrender to the unending solid waste accumulation by the competent authorities, if such bodies exist at all. In response to the unavoidable environmental consequences of delayed solid waste pickup, the federal government, for example, implemented monthly environmental sanitation in the early 1970s.
States and local governments were expected to follow suit and develop their own solid waste management (SWM) programmes based on the unique characteristics of their region.
In the process of reducing urban solid wastes, each state established Wastes Management Boards (WMB) to address the occurrence of wastes and its hazards to society as a whole.
While the hazardous components of abandoned solid waste can be controlled, the more preventable issues of blocked drains, traffic impediment, and flooding have yet to be fully addressed.
One recurring aspect in waste accumulation and resulting environmental degradation scenarios is the high cost or capital demanding nature of its remediation as well as dealing with the solid wastes issue.
It takes a lot of financial and human capital to reduce and try to eliminate the negative consequences of exposed and untreated solid waste in our cities.
It is believed that the government would eventually find a way to battle solid waste and lessen its negative impact on local inhabitants as well as the perception of our cities as dirty, chaotic, and full of rotting or fermenting garbage that emits odours toxic to the human body.
Clearly, timely clearance of accumulated solid wastes necessitates far more than our governments at all levels are now engaging in. In order to address the heinous impacts of environmental degradation, additional plans, policies, and programmes would need to be implemented on a more permanent basis.
Understandably, efficient resource mobilisation, such as including all stakeholders in frequent countermeasures, would be required to completely eliminate uncontrolled solid waste generation and irregular disposal outside municipal limits.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Because of rising urbanisation and sporadic environmental sanitation activities, city dwellers discard solid wastes recklessly or haphazardly – wherever they see fit. Such divisive attitudes and characteristics would appear unfathomable if we were to live in beautiful places.
Some of the country’s lagoon front has been turned into a landfill for human and material garbage. Trucks filled with faeces form long lines to dump their contents into the lagoon (Njoku 2006). Environmental specialists believe that this practise has serious consequences.
The failure of competent agencies to halt the tide of irresponsible rubbish dumping and littering of Nigerian towns’ infrastructure (streets and roads) and surrounding bushes demonstrates a clear pattern of non-enforcement or non-implementation of current environmental cleanliness legislation.
Irregular and unplanned dumping of solid wastes, particularly at night, continues to stymie plan preparations and proper land use demarcation, which were intended to bring in a beautiful, clean, and orderly environment.
As a result, there is a wide gap between policy formation, execution, and implementation, which exacerbates the problem of solid waste management in Nigerian cities, necessitating the researcher’s requirement to examine the challenges of solid waste management in Nigeria.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the study’s objectives:
1. To assess Nigeria’s solid waste management issues.
2. To investigate the repercussions of Nigeria’s poor solid waste management.
3. To identify the solid waste management solutions that have been used in Nigeria.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What are Nigeria’s solid waste management issues?
2. What are the repercussions of Nigeria’s poor solid waste management?
3. What are the solid waste management measures that have been used in Nigeria?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO: Solid waste management in Nigeria has proven ineffective.
In Nigeria, solid waste management has proven effective.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the study’s implications:
1. The purpose of this research is to educate the general public, environmental management stakeholders, students, government, and policymakers about the problems of solid waste management in Nigeria, with the goal of identifying management strategies to combat the threat associated with poor solid waste management.
2. This research will also serve as a resource base for other academics and researchers interested in conducting additional research in this sector in the future, and if implemented, will go so far as to provide new explanations for the topic.
1.7 STUDY SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
This study on the examination of solid waste management challenges in Nigeria will cover all topics of the Nigerian solid waste management system. It will address Nigerians’ attitudes towards solid waste management, policies, and the regulatory framework.
STUDY LIMITATIONS
Financial constraint- A lack of funds tends to restrict the researcher’s efficiency in locating relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as in the data collection procedure (internet, questionnaire, and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will conduct this investigation alongside other academic activities. As a result, the amount of time spent on research will be reduced.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Any garbage, refuse, or sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, as well as other discarded materials, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, or agricultural operations, is considered solid waste.
Pollution is defined as the presence or introduction of a substance into the environment that has damaging or poisonous consequences.
The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates are referred to as the environment.
The process of dealing with or controlling objects or people is referred to as management.
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