The problem of solid waste management in the FCT

According to the Federal Ministry of Environment, solid waste management remains one of the most daunting environmental challenges facing the country today and solution has continually remained at its lowest ebb despite huge investments in many cities and towns.  Wastes are generated faster than they are collected, transported and disposed. The attitude of FCT residents […]

According to the Federal Ministry of Environment, solid waste management remains one of the most daunting environmental challenges facing the country today and solution has continually remained at its lowest ebb despite huge investments in many cities and towns.  Wastes are generated faster than they are collected, transported and disposed. The attitude of FCT residents towards environmental protection is still questionable. Residents and passersby litter the streets and roads indiscriminately.  In the federal capital city today, our roads are constantly littered with all kinds of wastes ranging from papers, pure water sachets, used cans and wraps for sweets and biscuits and others.  Commuters throw out pure water sachets, food wrappers, cans or rubber through the windows of moving vehicles. The implication of this is filthy environment and the safety of our health is at stake.  Indiscriminate waste disposal does not contribute in any way to the beauty of the FCT environment; rather it messes up the place, which costs the federal government fortunes to clean.

This calls for a change of attitude.  As good and patriotic citizens of this great nation, let us join hands together and keep our environment clean.  Those developed countries that we strive to emulate have laws, rules and regulation that guide how they treat their environment. The habit of throwing dirt all over the place is highly primitive. Nigeria has clocked fifty years; therefore we are expected to be civilized in all the areas of our national endeavours.  The concept of development cuts across every aspect of human life and the state of the environment inclusive.  Therefore, it is high time we wake up to our responsibilities and realize that the government will not provide social amenities for our use and still be the one to maintain those facilities. We need to contribute our quota by ensuring wastes are properly generated, kept and disposed of appropriately. A visit to Wuse Market area will attest to the callous attitudes of some residents towards sanitation and general hygiene. It is part of our civic responsibilities to ensure that our environment is kept clean all the time.

The problem of waste collection and disposal in the FCT has become perennial. This is because the rate at which people generate waste is not commensurate with the collection.  Some of the reasons for this lapse are lack of adequate equipment that need to be used for waste collection; the relocation of the dumpsite from Mpape (very close to the city) to Airport Road (about forty five kilometers away from the city) did not help matters; the road constructions going on in the federal capital city and the rate of traffic congestions on the roads etc. All these slow down the frequency of waste collection in the city. Finally and more importantly, most FCT residents do not consider it necessary to bring out their wastes at the appropriate time to the pickup points. The trucks must have come and gone thereby leaving the trash can overfilled until the next schedule. This is immoral on the part of the residents. The issue of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the streets of Abuja, one major environmental challenge confronting the FCT today, is a common practice among people within the central area as well as the satellite towns. Some go as far as dumping waste in the gutter. This is common among market traders.

However, it is really a shock that even in the FCT, there are people who do not see anything wrong in urinating or defecating in public places.  Defecating in the public has become a familiar sight; this is common in most of the bus stops, and car or taxi parks, by the fences and road sides in some cases.  This habit of messing up the environment by urinating or defecating on the roads is really bad, not healthy at all. Instead of breathing fresh air  or perceiving fragrance of beautiful flowers by the sides of the roads, what welcomes the pedestrians are offensive odours of human excreta. Is this really the Abuja of our dream? This attitude must stop.

Etim wrote from 20E, King’s Court Estate, off Airport Road, Abuja