Lagos is battling a worsening waste management crisis as inaccessible dumpsites slow refuse evacuation, leaving streets littered with waste, worsening flooding risks and exposing residents to serious environmental and public health hazards, writes ANOZIE EGOLE

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial centre, has in recent months experienced severe flooding, with many blaming it on indiscriminate refuse disposal that has clogged drainage channels and hindered the free flow of floodwater.

In recent weeks, flooding has destroyed numerous properties across Lagos, including homes, vehicles and other valuables, on both the mainland and the island.

Although many people blamed indiscriminate refuse disposal for the problem, waste management experts argued that the shortage of accessible dumpsites is another major factor contributing to the accumulation of refuse across Lagos.

They explained that the state’s existing dumpsite has reached capacity and is no longer easily accessible, making it extremely difficult for Private Sector Participation operators to dispose of collected waste.

In June, The PUNCH reported that residents in the Ikotun, Idimu, Ejigbo and Egbeda areas of Lagos State decried the indiscriminate dumping and abandonment of refuse on streets and major roads, describing the situation as an eyesore.

This followed the Lagos Waste Management Authority’s announcement that its licensed Private Sector Participation operators evacuated 418,500 tonnes of waste across the state in May, representing an average of 13,200 tonnes each day.

Speaking on the indiscriminate disposal of refuse, an industrial chemist, Mr Harrison Chinaka, warned that improper and irregular waste disposal goes beyond being an environmental nuisance, describing it as a growing public health and environmental challenge.

“Especially around the Alimosho environs of Lagos State,” he noted.

Chinaka explained that waste does not simply disappear but gradually decomposes and releases harmful substances into the environment, saying, “As refuse decomposes, it emits gases such as methane and ammonia, which pollute the air, contribute to global warming, and create unpleasant and unhealthy living conditions.”

He further noted that when residents burn waste in open spaces, toxic fumes and hazardous chemicals are released into the atmosphere, increasing the incidence of respiratory illnesses and other health complications.

“During rainfall, harmful substances from waste seep into the soil and are washed into drains and water sources, contaminating water and threatening both human and aquatic life. Improperly discarded plastics, batteries, and other materials may release toxic chemicals and heavy metals that remain in the environment for years. In addition, piles of refuse become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, flies, and rodents, increasing the spread of diseases,” he said.

A health consultant, Joy Oriaku, lamented that many roads have gradually been transformed into refuse dumps, saying, “The gutters are now filled with black water, nylon bags, and bottles everywhere; open spaces have somehow become dumpsites without anyone agreeing to see it. In Mushin, for instance, the smell on a hot afternoon is something else. People have just accepted it as part of living there.”

Oriaku observed that although residents pay PSP operators for waste collection services, the operators’ trucks frequently fail to arrive to evacuate the refuse.

“The most annoying thing is that people are paying waste levies, local government charges, and random collections at the roadside, money is leaving people’s pockets consistently, but the trucks are not coming consistently. The big bin in my house has been filled up for about two weeks. Where is LAWMA? Yet we are billed and have never defaulted. The drainage is still blocked. It’s the rainy season; the streets are flooded, and it’s even so bad that it’s entering people’s houses,” she said.

According to her, the indiscriminate dumping of refuse also poses serious health risks.

“Then there is the health aspect that people don’t always talk about directly. Stagnant water brings malaria; dirty drains bring typhoid. Kids are playing near gutters every single day. So, families that are already managing tight budgets are now adding hospital bills to them for sicknesses that clean surroundings would have prevented. The dirt is literally costing people money beyond just the levies they already paid,” she lamented.

Speaking with The PUNCH over the weekend, the National President of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, Dr Olugbenga Adebola, described the current waste management situation in Lagos as regrettable.

“As operators collecting and managing waste in Lagos together with LAWMA, we find the current situation of waste management in Lagos State very, very unfortunate. And it is really, really disturbing. And I must say to you that we are not happy about it. Because every effort is made to ensure that Lagos, which has been equated with effective and efficient waste management since the return to democracy, is actually sustained. But apparently, there is an infrastructural challenge, an infrastructural deficit, regarding waste treatment and disposal. The problem is not the PSP, but the final disposal site where the PSPs themselves, having collected waste, must go. If the disposal sites are not available and are not accessible, it will have an overall effect on the turnaround period of the trucks. And then, it will have an effect on the overall service delivery. It is because there is no access to where the waste will be dumped,” he said.

While maintaining that the problem is not the lack of compactors, Adebola lamented that poor access to the dumpsite has significantly reduced the number of trips each compactor can make.

“Indeed, we have some ageing trucks. But let me tell you the major problem. The problem is not that of the compactor but rather where the compactor will dump because the compactor queues at the dumpsite just to offload. When they work from Monday, on average, they make 12 trips. Some, it could be more than that. A single compactor makes at least two trips to the dumpsite in a day. Sometimes they make three trips, depending on the proximity of the disposal site to the area of operation. However, in recent times, the dumpsites are not accessible. So, a truck that will make 12 trips in a week, at the initial stage, now makes less than that because it would only make one trip in a day. Now, that one trip in a day has been reduced to one trip in three days. As time went by, it reduced to one trip in four days or whatever. At the end of the day, in a week, perhaps they are making only two trips. What happens to the 10-trip deficit every week? The same compactor that is trapped at the dumpsite could have gone to collect waste; it’s a simple analogy,” he said.

Adebola maintained that addressing the problem requires a collective effort, adding that the Lagos State Governor has approved funding for the rehabilitation of the dumpsite.

“But all hands are on deck. Recently, Mr Governor approved funding for the rehabilitation of the dumpsite. At least I am aware of that. And according to what the Commissioner has also said, coupled with what the MD of LAWMA said, they have signed an agreement with a foreign company, or what I call a company that will build a transfer loading station,” he said.

He stressed that while work on the transfer loading station is awaited, the immediate concern remains where waste will be disposed of in the interim.

“Why do we acknowledge that there’s always a gestation period? Before all those come on board, where will the waste be dumped? That will be the major challenge that we are facing right now. Because waste is not collected properly from the doorsteps of the waste generators, it will find its way onto the highways and then the major routes. Mr Governor gave a marching order for those wastes to be evacuated, which I believe all hands are on deck to ensure. But as much as you do that, if there is no resting place, the final disposal site, the treatment facility or material recovery facility, or whatever you want to call them, if they are not available, if they are not accessible, then waste will continue to return to the highways,” he stated.

He called for a review of the remuneration paid to PSP operators, noting that the tariff has remained unchanged for years despite the sharp rise in diesel prices.

“The current tariff structure was fixed in 2022, when diesel was just N600 per litre. That was even before the deregulation of petroleum products in Nigeria, which increased the cost of diesel and the cost of doing business by over 300 per cent. And yet, the amount being paid remains stagnant, remains pegged,” he said.

Responding to the concerns, the Director of Public Affairs at LAWMA, Mukaila Sanusi, attributed the indiscriminate disposal of refuse across the state largely to the attitude of waste generators.

“So, what I can tell you is that the challenge that we have is the attitude and behaviour of people. Because, as we usually say, risk management is a collaborative effort between the government and citizens. While the government is making its efforts, citizens must behave appropriately. Despite the fact that the government is scaling up enforcement, you see that people are dumping refuse overnight. And the reason behind that is not far-fetched. Some tenants are not paying PSP operators, and if you are not paying them, you are not helping them stay in business. There is a lot of logistics involved; they need to fuel and maintain their trucks, maintain their staff, and, come to think of it, the inflationary trend is also affecting their logistics. So, where we have people not paying, it affects their efficiency,” he said.