A look at Lafia’s garbage heaps

As the refuse continues to increase in both urban and rural communities, the state has continued to allocate huge resources to waste management in the state’s urban centres, especially Lafia the capital. Yet none of the budgets, especially since 1999 can be said to have been implemented.It was in 1999, just as the administration of […]

As the refuse continues to increase in both urban and rural communities, the state has continued to allocate huge resources to waste management in the state’s urban centres, especially Lafia the capital. Yet none of the budgets, especially since 1999 can be said to have been implemented.
It was in 1999, just as the administration of former Governor, Abdullahi Adamu, was taking off that the state last procured equipments to manage the ever growing garbage heaps.
Adamu procured only four units of refuse disposal trucks for Lafia, in what could not even represent the minimum requirment to tackle refuse in the state capital.
That administration, reputed for being the longest in power since state creation – having spent eight straight years, could not even manage the four trucks throughout the period.
Under the administration of Aliyu Akwe Doma, which lasted between 2007-2011, the Nasarawa Urban Development Board (NUDB), the authorities charged with the responsibility of executing and maintaining an environmental friendliness, did not do much.
For four years, the board saw the state’s urban centres degenerating into a condition which could ignite comparism with a pigsty. All drainages provided by the federal government along the major roads of Jos Road, Makurdi Road, Shendam Road, as well as other strategic locations in the state capital, were silted up with either garbage or liquid waste.
Major junctions became easy locations for the disposal of waste by residents, in what made heaps of garbage a major feature of the town. The only place in the state which did not witness this sordid development was Government House, as even the surrounding of the office of the Deputy Governor was a choice location for refuse disposal.
This development was further worsened by lack of infrastructure including paved streets and drainages, in what saw Lafia, even the area around Government House, undeveloped. This encouraged the illicit practice of open defecation in Lafia, as those who indulge in it found government office premises very useful.
The development was mostly observed around the premises of the Deputy Governor’s Office adjoining the Office of the Secretary to the State Government along Shendam Road. But most hit by complete absence of landscaping were the premises housing the ministries of Justice, Information and Orientation, as well as Culture and Tourism, also along Shendam Road. The premises of Ministry of Lands, Survey and Urban Planning, Health, as well as Agriculture, and Education, along Jos Road, also lack landscaping, turning the premises into a bushy outlook.
Umaru Tanko Al-Makura took over as Governor from Aliyu Akwe Doma, on May 29, 2011, after his electioneering campaign to introduce change and salvage the people from sundry backwardness, earned him victory against Doma. The NUDB was actually the first government office visited by the governor when he embarked on visits of government agencies to take stock, as well as acquaint himself with the agency and its problems.
On June 2, 2011, a mild drama played out when Al-Makura continued with his tour of the state. He ran from the heaps of refuse dotting the landscape of Lafia where he toured to ascertain the extent of infrastructural decay.
As he walked through the streets, stopping at various points to demand answers from relevant authorities which officers and personnel accompanied him, he went face to face with the eyesores of Lafia. Refuse heaps dotting the landscape, and taking over major parts of the streets, accosted him during the inspection visit to Kilema, Millionaires’ Quarters, Sabon Pegi, and areas along Shendam Road.
He first ran from refuse heap at Kilema when he covered his nose, and pointed at it, calling on his aides to remind him of the need to take up the matter with the management of NUDB.
 He proceeded straight to NUDB where he met the management which blamed the development on funding and lack of modern equipment. Al-Makura promised to look into it with a positive outcome, but directed immediately, for the board to commit the few waste disposal vehicles to commence clearing of the decomposed refused heaps throughout the town.
Two years and some months on, Lafia is not getting any better. With a new management where the board is now under the Ministry of Lands and Urband Development, NUDB can only perform minimally. Recently, the board achieved a feat, when close to 17 years after the creation of Nasarawa, the state capital began to experience a break from garbage.
For days, the metropolis witnessed the disappearance of the usually high garbage heaps, as residents expressed confidence in the ability of the state government to sustain the development with the right leadership over those managing the waste.
“I have been around in Lafia since the creation of the state. This is the first time I am witnessing this; that major places are cleaned of garbage. If government is this serious and sustains it, why won’t people have good confidence in the system”, asked a shop owner along Shendam Road which is one of the places where high heaps of garbage is a common place.
Chinedu, the shop owner, added: “the refuse collectors themselves have shown good commitment to their job. But they told us when they came around that the governor accounted for the new development when he brought Urban Development to be part of the Ministry for Lands, where there is a commissioner incharge.”
Men of the NUDB sited at a hitherto notorious spot for garbage, told Daily Trust that since their board was placed under the Lands Ministry, they have not had a moment when there is no close supervision to ensure the job is done. “The commissioner of the ministry, Mr. Sonny Agassi, does not sleep; so he does not allow sleep for the board’s management. That way, we do not have to sleep, until the job is done”, said a refuse collector at the point.
But that was just how far the board could go. Daily Trust checks revealed that the board’s minimal efforts are tied to lack of waste management equipment. Of the four vehicles procured by Adamu, three are functioning while one is completely broken down. A month ago, the government procured three more, with refuse bins attached to them. But Daily Trust learnt that the state capital alone needs not less than 25 of such bins, and a minimum of 10 of the trucks. The board also needs a mechanical workshop where the vehicles could be maintained.
There is no land fill site where refuse collected could be dumped, just as there are no bins placed anywhere, with residents compelled to use major roads and streets as their dumping sites. This is just as the board’s field men have been operating without protective equipments, even in rains.
A look at this year’s budgetary provision for the board showed that N200 million was budgeted for refuse collection vehicles, bins and sanitary landfill, while N20 million is to be expended on septic tank for liquid waste management. N5 million will go for provision of pest control, and another N5 million for streets sweepers.
But with more than half of the year gone, the board is yet to see any of the provisions captured for in the budget, compelling them to do only palliative measures while heaps of refuse continue to dot Lafia’s landscape, indiscriminately.