LAGOS STATE ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION ...

LAGOS STATE ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION PROGRAMME: A Paper Presented At The Grassroots Fora On Environmental Sanitation In Lagos Organised By The Civil Liberties Organisation In Collaboration With The Lagos State Ministry Of Rural Development And Infrastructure Between 9th – 23rd August 2004 Review And Proposal For Improvement Prepared by O. O. AKIYODE, Our environment is the greatest gift to mankind. This word environment is to many synonymous with air, land, plants and water while the scientists see the Environment to consist both living components and their physical surroundings such as water, soil and air. Thus Environmental Sanitation could be seen as a process of protecting and preserving the public health from the effect of wastes. Wastes can be defined as any solids, liquids or gasses that are considered to posses no value any longer to their owner and are therefore discarded. It can also be defined as substances and materials, which are disposed off according to the provision of national law1. Toxic wastes are referred to as hazardous while non-toxic wastes are non-hazardous. “Virtually all aspect of man’s production (economic activity) involves the generation of waste “2. Solid wastes are unique in character since they are highly visible in the environment. They are always from industries and from residential houses. Solid waste from residential or industries when improperly stored will always attract insects, present a fire hazard, constitute an unattractive nuisance, produces offensive conditions. Liquid wastes especially effluents from industrial activities like food processing, brewing, textile, distilleries, tannery, pulp and paper, chemicals, electroplating are sometimes dangerous to the ecosystem and the environment. Adegoke (1990) said industrial effluents constitute the next major pollutant of the atmosphere, surface and groundwater resources next to solid waste. Industrial waste often contains some toxic and persistent substances such as Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB), cadmium, and mercury. Some of these are carcinogenic to man. The gaseous wastes are mainly from boiler section in industries, powers generating houses, vehicles, etc are always discharged into the environment. All of these have great ADVERSE EFFECT on the environment and the ecosystem. The waste management practise should deal with the storage, collection, treatment and disposal of unwanted or discarded materials in such a manner as to render them harmless to human and ecology and environment. The backbone of any waste management practise is its collection and outright transportation to place of treatment or disposal.

I EVOLUTION OF WASTE MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS In the pre-colonial days, the people of Lagos have a way of managing their wastes. The waste volume was small compared to post independence and industrial era when the volume began to soar. In our culture there were controls in every community of how the

environment must be made clean. The road to the stream, the market square, the residential areas were thus made clean. (a) Population And Industrial Development “The twentieth century and particularly the period since WORD WAR II has witnessed a dramatic increase in the production of wastes, reflecting unprecedented global level of economic activity. Figures on primary energy usage in the 1970’s indicated that oil consumption in the period 1960 – 1970 in developed economies was equivalent to the total oil produced before 1960 in the preceding centuries”3. Industrialization and increase in economic activity leads to increase in generation of wastes. The oil boom of the 1970’s and the consequential neglect of rural areas (due to industrialization of urban areas) produced large wave of rural migrants. Thus the population of Lagos increased from 665,246 in 1963 to 7,800,781 (National Census 1991)4. The World Bank/UN has projected Lagos State population to reach 24.4 million in the year 2015 AD. Thus the increase in population also leads to increase in the volume of waste generated in Lagos. Population and industrialization has been a major determinant of global waste generation. US municipal wastes increased five times as quickly as the population over the fifty-year period 1920 to 1974.5 (b) Creation of States and Statutory Provisions Lagos state is the nerve centre of Nigeria economy for about 70% of Nigeria industries are situated in Lagos and its environs. Lagos was the capital city of Nigeria, the largest seaport and airport before independence and after, until 1991 when the capital city was moved to Abuja. All these led to the migration of people from the rural areas and every part of Nigeria to Lagos for greater opportunities, jobs etc. Thus Lagos population continue to swell, thereby bringing in an increase in the volume of wastes, which the urban settlement has no proper facilities for its disposal. There has been a comprehensive waste management policies or regulation in pre-colonial days and pre-industrial days. In rural communities waste were dumped at a particular site or dumped in storm water or burnt, but nevertheless stringent control was maintained on the sanitary conditions of Lagos through the activities of the then dreaded health inspectors, but after independence, there has been a steady decline in the environmental and or sanitary condition of the state. Saka (1994) said the concentration of the indicators and proceeds of development has not been matched by effective institutional provision to control and monitor the collection, storage and evacuation and disposal of solid wastes. Thus existing laws setting standards and guidelines on wastes management are lacking and where they exist are being enacted and enforced at a level of managing the environment.6 The Constitutional transfer of responsibilities between the stare and local governments has also led to the inconsistency in the states waste management policy.

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(c) Policy Dynamism And Overlaps The waste management practices in Lagos State has been experiencing policy change since independence. The State stated in her “Policy on the Environment” that the management of the environment and natural resources of the sate are directed towards human welfare, economic survival and sustainable development. The policy also stated as part of its goal to alleviate the level of poverty, hunger and disease in the state and he adverse impacts of the problems on the environment.7 All these are far cry from what is on the ground. In 1970’s the local governments were vested with the constitutional responsibility for waste management. However, this delegated responsibility changed from time to time. In 1977, because of rapid growth of the population in Lagos State and lack of institutional and financial capability of local government councils, solid waste management was centralized under the Lagos State Refuse Disposal Board which was managed by a foreign firm of Messrs Powel Duffem Pollution control. This arrangement was operational in Lagos Mainland and Island. In 1980 it was renamed Lagos State Waste Disposal Board and area coverage expanded to include Ikeja, Shomolu and Mushin Local Government. The LWDB was renamed in 1991 as Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) as a commercialized autonomous authority.8 Presently we have LASEPA (Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency), the new KAI (Kick Against Indiscipline), the Highway Mangers and the Environmental Officers of both State Ministry of Environments and Local Governments all saddled with power to implement, enact, monitor, control and enforce environmental laws. Thus, there is an overlap and muddling up of Waste Management policies in the State. A new waste policy, which is being adopted by the State Government, was slated to have taken off on Sunday August 1st 2004 but has been pushed forward till later in the month.9 Here four licenced PSP operators in the state will do the refuse clearing. It is expected in this programme that every household would simply be required to pay a flat rate of between N500 – N1,500 each month to the Government to keep the state clean. This is in variance with the state policy on Environment, which believes in promotion of community participation in Environmental matters. The opinion of the citizenry is not taken into consideration and up till now there has not been any public campaign intimating the citizenry about the new programme. The Government also refused to recognised the contract entered into with the current PSP operators the household might be using (d) Public Education Information, education and communication are vital tools in Environmental Management. The public is to be informed about Waste Management laws, enactments, practices, technologies and effect of non-compliance. Also the Public must be aware of the legal implications for not obeying Environmental laws. All these are done with laissez faire attitude in the state. Laws are being enforced with impunity without allowing the culprits to appreciate the magnitude of his or her offences. Most publics are not aware of Waste Management practices in the state. Also, the agencies whose responsibility is to enforce these laws, see it as a way of generating fund

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to the Government while their officers see it as a way of making money for themselves and to be dreaded by those who inadvertently break the law.

II INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT Integrated Waste Management is a frame of reference for designing and implementing new Waste Management System and for analyzing and optimizing existing system. Integrated approach allows the participation of public, private and informal sector actors in the role appropriate for each. It has affordable technology and multiple approaches to solve waste management problems.10 (a) Waste Collection and Transportation The backbone of any waste technology is in collection and transportation to disposal sites. Collection could be done through (i)

House to house collection

(ii)

Street to Street/Area

(iii) By Cart pushers LAWMA is in charge of collection and disposal of industrial/commercial/ trade and institution wastes while local governments and PSP operators are responsible for domestic waste collection. The PSP scheme of Lagos State tactically exempted the Cart pushers from the scheme thus hindering the waste collection and making disposal a big problem. Thus, the streets are always littered with wastes in nylon bags and other containers waiting for the PSP trucks for collection. Also the transfer loading station, which supposedly should be a transit point for the wastes are no more in existence. (b) Waste Characterization and Reduction Waste characterisation data is very important in integrated waste management for it shows the suitability of waste stream or waste technology. It should be determined regularly. Our waste management technology is still based on the last study by Lavalin International Incorporated on the composition of solid waste generated in Lagos State as 68% putrescible matter.11 Waste minimization is better tackled from the source. There are few formal systems of material recovery through public agencies or the private sector in Africa. In Lagos State, material recovery takes place only in the informal sector. Plastics, bags, bottles, papers, cans and cardboard may be re-used or recovered at household level. Berlin based institute of Ecological Recycling claimed that up to 90% of pollution results from the products, and this underlies the rationale for the radical Environmentalist demands for a focus on waste reduction at the source rather than a policy emphasis in post consumer waste.12

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Re-use of products prolong their usefulness before entering the waste steam and also generate employment. The economic recession in the country has forced people to scavenge for recyclable materials such as de-used plastics, metal/scraps and bottles for re-use or recycling. In Lagos State we are YET to develop a recycling policy as we have in developing economies. Lagos state is yet to adopt a waste reduction programme. (c) Disposal/Treatment System A proper disposal system makes waste management technology to be complete. The three major treatment and disposal systems are (i) incineration (ii) composting (iii) land filling. The Lagos State Government constructed three Incinerators in strategic locations in the 80’s. One each in Lagos Island, Mainland and Oshodi. From the time of construction up till this time they are non-functional. This is a waste technology option which convert wastes to steam and generate energy that can be piped for electricity. Also composting option which is a method of aerobic decomposition of organic waste is not being practised in Lagos State. The only treatment and disposal method employed by the state is land filling. A secure or sanitary landfill is a carefully engineered depression in the ground (or built on top of the ground, resembling a football stadium) into which wastes are put. The so called landfills in Lagos State are dumpsite since they are not engineered but are borrowed pits where wastes dumped are not really monitored nor controlled. In page 9 of “Policy on the environment” by LASEPA it was stated the “collection of industrial waste have not been differentiated from that of domestic and both are disposed off together”. This is dangerous. The use of dumpsite had been criticized as a viable option of waste management because they could produce leachates such as volatile organic phenols, Toluene, heavy metal etc to the ground water since they are not engineered. The microbes in the landfills digest putrescible materials in the landfills aerobically (i.e. .in the presence of Oxygen) to carboxylic acid and esters. The esters give the sweet sickly smell around the landfills. Also in the absence of oxygen, digestion could occur in landfills generating landfill gas (methane and carbon (iv) Oxide), which is highly flammable and posses a risk of explosion if not properly managed.13 LAWMA do not have ways of managing the landfill gas. All Lagos State landfills are located in residential areas of the state. The landfills are: (i) Olushosun in Oregun/Ojota (ii) Solous landfill in Iba-Ojo Rd, Igando (iii) Abule-Egba/Ile-Epo The pollution to the groundwater cannot be ruled out in these around since there is no control of the type of wastes being dumped and the possibility of hazardous waste entering the landfill is real. This is a public health concern to the residents of the area. Only Olushosun landfill has monitoring wells to monitor the impact of leachates from the dump on the surrounding groundwater.

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III ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR The Private Sector Participation (PSP) scheme in Lagos State Waste Management Programme is the collection of Solid Wastes from residential and markets, garages and public institutions and its onward transportation to designated landfill sites. The concept is that Government intended to hands off refuse management completely by licencing private operators. The private operators were evaluated using some criteria in the bid document submitted by these operators. In other words, they are expected to demonstrate technical know how, professional competence, equipment and financial capabilities. They were expected to go from house to house to collect the waste and transport it to the landfills. The Short Comings Of PSP are (i) The PSP operators engaged gave false credentials in order to be appointed as a player in the sector. For example some operators do not have workable equipment i.e. functional vehicles. (ii)

Those that were appointed were for political patronage and not on merit.

(iii) The major undoing is the sidelining of the cart pushers. The cart pushers charge less or affordable prices. The cart pushers have the sympathy of the masses and could penetrate the inter lands or areas where PSP’s vehicle could not.

IV ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE Constitutionally Waste Management practice belong to the Local Governments. This programme was hijacked by the state government because of the huge fund that is involved. Thus the believe is that the programme is being frustrated by the local authority. Also lack of sustained public enlightenment programme by the state government on policies and environmental matters also hinder the waste management plan. The people also see waste management as a social service which suppose to be run by the government. Thus they are not co-operating with the state for effective waste management practice.

V PROPOSAL FOR IMPROVEMENT The success and sustainability of Lagos State Waste Management Practice solely depends on a programme of action that encompasses all the stakeholders, thus it allows the participation of publics, private, informal sector actors and have affordable environmentally sound technology. Also the following will need to be adhere to for effective environmental situation of the entire Lagos State. (a) Public Enlightenment The wise saying is that information brings about transformation. The Lagos State Government needs to disseminate information about their waste technology to the generality of the people. This could be done through the use of Radio, Television,

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Circulation of leaflets, Signages and billboards, seminars, consultation with chiefs, NGOs and all other means. (b) Source Reduction and Waste Minimization Policy The Policy of reducing waste at the source of generation before entering the waste stream should be encouraged by the Government e.g. sorting of wastes by the generator. This reduces the quantity of wastes that enters the stream. The waste minimization principle of “4R” which include source reduction, re-use, recycling and recovery. (c) Capacity Building Government enforcement officer, plant operators, managers and all waste management staff should be trained. Environmental enforcement officers should be well informed men as compared to what is in existence in some of the agencies (e.g. KAI) which already lead to public out cry in the way and manner enforcement is carried out. (d) Environmental Agencies At present we have the KAI, LAWMA, LASEPA and HIGHWAY MANAGERS as agencies saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and enforcement of waste management practise. Currently KAI and LASEPA are agencies under the Ministry of Environment while LAWMA and HIGHWAY MANAGERS are parastatals. The agencies function overlaps, interfere and duplicates. There is need to streamline these agencies to a body for effectiveness of the process. (e) Enforcement Procedure The enforcement procedure of the agencies involve in the managing of wastes are looked at as a revenue generation mechanism not corrective procedure. Environmental offences should be tackled not with punitive cum fund generation ideas but a way of abatement of the harm done on the environment. (f) Waste Management Facilities and Equipment Inadequate waste management facilities and equipment are one of the problems facing waste management in Lagos State. The three incinerators constructed in the 80’s never functioned once. LAWMA has in its fleet 450 broken down trucks and only 45 are functional as at July 200414. The Government should upgrade the existence facilities and bring in up to date equipment for the waste management to be sustained. (g) Integrated Approach (PSP Scheme) The Lagos environs being don with wastes could be minimized if the waste management technology encompasses all the stakeholders. The backbone of any waste technology is the collection. For the PSP to work it must be built around the cart pushers. The cart pushers must be integrated into the system and also the criteria for appointing the PSP operator must be strictly adhered to. (h) Transfer Loading Stations Transfer stations are centralized facilities where waste is unloaded from several small collection vehicles (cart) and loaded into large vehicle for hauling to disposal site. Thus,

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this will reduce the frequent off loading of waste on our roads since transfer stations are generally close by to the place of generator. Recycling programmes and waste to energy facilities can also be adapted to the transfer station. The absence of transfer stations is a minus to the state waste technology. (i) Inter Ministerial Approach Managing waste should not be exclusive reserve of the Ministry of Environment. It should involve all other ministries especially the Ministry of physical planning and urban development since they will be able to plan future location for disposal sites and other technology. (j) Intergovernmental Approach The Local Government should be totally integrated in the managing of the Wastes in the state since the local government is expected to be closer to the grassroots than the sate government. (k) Quality Research There is need for regular quality researches in the area of waste management. Research helps in updating information and design. The State Government could collaborate with the research institutes and universities in specific area of needs. (l) Sustainability of the Technology The waste technology is expected to be self-sustenance. This can be done through Polluter Pay Principle. The generator is expected to pay a token for the transportation and disposal of their wastes and also the waste technology should be exploited for energy. For example Biogas emitted from landfill could be piped for electricity of the area adjoined to the landfill.

CONCLUSION This study took a critical appraisal at the Environmental sanitation programme of Lagos State in the past year and also a proposal for improvement. The study is not exhaustive in its current state since further studies will need to be done to appreciate the enormous imput of the stakeholders in sanitizing the Environment and also the impact of the waste on the generality of the people. The study was not intended to be antagonistic to the state Government but to show that there is more to be done with waste management and disposal methods while the government needs to work upon collaboratively with private experts, NGOs, Waste Management Practitioners, researchers in the field of environment with view to helping the state achieve its ultimate goal of a safe and healthy environment. The State should also not focus only on solid waste because of its obvious and highly visible nature but all type of wastes (gaseous and liquid) should be given equal attention, for their discharges unto the environment are equally dangerous. 1

Adegoke O.S. (1990) “Waste Management within the context of sustainable development (FEPA) Page 104.

2

Adegoke O.S. (1990) “Waste Management within the context of sustainable development (FEPA) Page 104.

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3

Mathew Gandy (1994) “Recycle and Politics of Urban Wastes” Earth Publication Ltd., London.

4

O. Bamigbose, T.A, Arowolo, O. Oresanyo and A.A. Yusuf. Assessment of Urban Solid Waste Management

practice in Lagos, Nigeria. African Scientist Vol 1, No. 1 March 31, 2000, Klobex Academic Publisher (Nig). 5

Meleosi, M.V. (1981) Garbage in the cities, Refuse Reform and the Environment 1880 – 1980. Texas A and M.

University Press. 6


practice in Lagos, Nigeria African Scientist Vol 1, No. 1 March 31, 2000, Klobex Academic Publisher (Nig). 7

Policy on the Environment

Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency LASEPA Building Secretariat Complex, Alausa, Ikeja Lagos State government (Publisher). 8

Popoola S. (7th Dec. 2001) Collection and disposal of Waste in Laos State. LAWMA General Manager.

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Home and Property - The Guardian Newspaper, Monday August 2, 2004, Page 31.

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UNEP Training Manuals..

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practice in Lagos, Nigeria. African Scientist Vol 1, No. 1 March 31, 2000, Klobex Academic Publisher (Nig). 12

Mathew Gandy (1994) “Recycle and Politics of Urban Wastes” Earth Publication Ltd., London.

13

www.rachel.org

14

Home and Property - The Guardian Newspaper, Monday August 2, 2004, Page 31.

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