Better living conditions expected as Lagos rethinks waste management strategy
Improvement in environmental health and general sanitary condition is underway in Lagos, as the state is perfecting plans to review its present health management strategy, which is not only inefficient, but also obsolete and inadequate for the state’s present status as a mega city.
With an estimated population of 22 million cramped in a relatively narrow land size, a large number of industries and a housing deficit estimated at 3 million units, Lagos environmental problems range from overcrowding, destitution, noise, air and water pollution to effluent discharges from industries, solid waste generated from hospitals, homes, schools, churches, mosques, sundry business activities, etc.
The enormous waste generated in the state, which Babatunde Adejare, the state’s commissioner for the environment, said at a media briefing, Tuesday, was in excess of 10,000 metric tons daily, and is currently managed through the use of compactors for collection and disposal.
Again, the state, until a couple of weeks ago, used to observe monthly environmental sanitation during which both human and vehicular movements were restricted to enable all residents partake in the clean-up exercise lasting three hours.
This exercise has been cancelled in line with the new thinking, and according to the commissioner, “this is a mega city and so much is lost economically by shutting down the city for three hours just for sanitation exercise; by 2050, Lagos will be the largest city in the world and so can no longer afford this economic waste.”
The commissioner said the state was also aligning with international best practices, disclosing that they were taking examples from such world cities as Abu Dhabi, Boston, Paris, etc.
“The governor and the members of the state executive decided to cancel the monthly exercise, and we are now planning a programme called Cleaner Lagos Initiative, which will employ sanitation officers that will be sweeping the entire Lagos,” he said, adding that dirty environment within any given community would attract sanctions from the state government.
The commissioner recalled that the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), which has been monitoring and regulating waste management in the state was established in 1999, but even though it had done well, it could no longer cope with the population and the level of waste generated in the state, which has increased from 10 million metric tons to 20 million metric tons daily.
Comparing Lagos with New York, the commissioner noted that both were mega cities with basically same population and equal amount of waste generated on daily basis. “It is curious therefore that while New York has been able to successfully handle the massive amount of waste generated daily, Lagos on the other hand is struggling with storage, collection and disposal of her waste.”
An environment activist, who did not want to be mentioned, had noted that whereas “New York can boast of about 120 landfills which are being used to the optimal capacity, Lagos has only six landfills with only three of them functioning, which is 20 times less than what New York has despite the same population count. This is grossly inadequate for Lagos, considering that it generates approximately the same amount of waste as New York.”
To drive the new initiative, the commissioner announced that the state would be procuring about 600 compactors to replace the rickety and moribund compactors many of which were no longer useful for the purpose, adding that the private support programme (PSP) would be taken away from domestic waste management.