Abuja residents decry improper waste disposal system

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have decried improper waste disposal systems. Many residents questioned the effectiveness of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), which is statutorily charged with managing waste within the FCT.

City centres like Jabi, Gwarimpa, and Wuse have experienced mismanagement of solid waste. Other satellite towns like Saburi, Bwari, Duste, and Kubwa have clusters of refuse dumps either on waterways, in marketplaces or within their households.

Human faeces have messed up the drainages in the major road that links Abuja with other states. Some residents have made conscious efforts to clean out the drainage and streets by burning refuse, which has resulted in air pollution for a couple of days.

According to them, earlier calls on the FCT Administration and Abuja waste management board to find a solution to the nuisance have yielded no results.
Many who spoke to The Guardian called on the government to find a lasting solution to the menace and prevent the disease outbreak.

The youth leader of Saburi, Alhassan Nassir, disclosed that the lack of proper management has increased the number of scavengers in Abuja. He appealed to the AEPB to dispatch garbage trucks across communities without defined waste disposal channels.

He said: “The people who attempt to destroy properties and cause unrest in the ongoing protests are scavengers. This set of irrational bunch is responsible for petty crimes in our community. If communities have a structured domestic waste system, we won’t need their services because they carry waste from homes and still dump it in water bodies. The AEPB should dispatch garbage trucks to communities.”

A pharmacist and resident of Kubwa, Tunde Ahmed, lamented the rising malaria cases among Kubwa residents.

According to him, the inadequate solid waste management infrastructure has led to an increase in mosquito breeding. “I am a pharmacist. The bulk of sick people who come for either prescription or drugs are usually down with malaria.”

This is because solid waste is poorly managed. For instance, bottles of soft drinks and empty bowls of ice cream can hold stagnant water that can breed mosquitoes. Abuja is fast becoming embarrassingly filthy.

The concern about the cleanliness of Abuja should be among the minister’s topmost priorities.” However, a teacher, Cosmos Madu, believes residents are the major cause of the waste management problem. He stressed that residents are quick to vandalise huge waste bins provided by the government without minding the implications of their actions.

“We generate this waste and fail to adequately manage it, first at our community level. In most communities I have stayed in Abuja, there are few designated places for refuse dump. If there is no organisation on the part of the residents, it becomes difficult for the government to handle the situation.
“Two of the huge waste bins here in Jabi have been vandalised. Look at our solar panel streetlights; all have been vandalised. If we continue vandalising these infrastructures the government provides, we will be at the receiving end. We need to take responsibility and change our attitude.”

For Adekule Armstrong, the government should give stiff punishments to residents caught disposing of solid waste inappropriately to serve as a deterrent to others.

“The punishment for residents messing with the environment should be more stringent. In Bwari, scavengers (Baba Boola) dump refuse collected in waterways and streams in the full glare of the public, and nobody complains for fear of being attacked.

“The government’s leniency has been taken for granted. The erosion that recently killed a few livestock in Jigo, a community in Bwari, was because of the clogging of waterways with domestic waste,” he said.

Responding, the Director of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, Osilama E. Braimah, emphasised that while the cholera scare remains hypothetical, AEPB is actively taking preventative measures to address potential health risks and ensure the well-being of Abuja residents.

According to him, the rapid growth of the population poses a significant challenge to the effective management of solid waste in the Federal Capital Territory. He disclosed that a staggering 1,000 tons of waste are produced every day, which amounts to about 120 compactor trucks transporting the waste to disposal sites daily.

“Part of the responsibility of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board is to manage waste in the capital city. That is phases 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the city: Maitama, Garki, Wuse 1, Wuse 2, Garki1, Garki 2, Mabushi, Asokoro, Guzape, Jahi, and Gwarimpa. Other areas have other agencies responsible statutorily, but we work together.

“The issue of the cholera scare: there was a cholera outbreak in some cities a couple of months ago, but there was no cholera outbreak in the FCT. “The issue of scare now is hypothetical. When you have poor waste management, poor sewage management, or faecal contamination of food sources and water sources, the possibility of a cholera outbreak becomes real. In the FCT, poor sewage management could result in an outbreak of cholera.

“In Abuja, the sewage system is managed through concrete pipes. We have sewage treatment plants in Wupa, Guzape, Katampe Extension, APO, and Gudu districts.
“These are sewage treatment plants designed to cater for sewage management. There are two systems: one to convey foul water or sewage and the other to convey stormwater, rainwater or precipitation. If you’re going to have the risk of cholera, it will come largely from sewage. But this is now conveyed through conduits to sewage treatment plants that are effective, functional, and working,” he said.

He added, “Occasionally, you can have sewage blowouts. But our maintenance teams are on the ground to ensure quick repairs. The conduit system is supposed to convey only liquids or slurry materials.

“There is a huge issue of vandalism in FCT. Our manhole covers have been vandalised. If you notice, the covers are missing, so when there is rainfall, solid materials are washed into the conduit system. This can create blockages and increase our maintenance challenges.

“Regarding solid waste management, we have divided the city into about 44 lots. Private companies are responsible for moving this solid waste material under our supervision. For areas that are not concessioned, AEsPB steps in to fill the gap by managing the waste.
“In areas like Jahi, there is no concession, but there is an ongoing procurement to concession those areas. Presently, there is no contractor there, so we do it ourselves.

“In our effective waste management of waste, we also know that we have a population explosion in the city. We have that kind of urban-to-urban migration or rural-to-urban migration. That is a big challenge. We’re dealing with almost 1,000 tons of waste per day, 900 by 1,000. That would mean about 120-ton compacting trucks. Imagine what it means to have close to 1,000 tons of waste per day, or the equivalent of 120 compacting trucks, that go to our dump site daily.

“Some also live in indigenous communities like Mabushi, Garki, and Airport Road. These kinds of settlements are difficult to service because they are informal settlements; it is herculean to provide effective waste services in those areas, given how poor their road network can be.

“In some cases, they are overpopulated. To mitigate this challenge, we provide large roll-on roll-off buckets. But you see, even though it’s supposed to control the waste for at least two or three days, it fills up in a couple of hours because of the large population that you have in those communities.

“That is why huge dump sites exist in those communities. There’s so much waste generation. We have to cater to this population, and the only way to do that is to create communal dumps for them that we evacuate so often. It’s a very expensive service.”

Braimah emphasised the importance of every household having a sufficiently sized waste bin to facilitate proper waste collection and discourage littering, hurting the city’s aesthetics.

“Then there is a fast-degrading culture of hygiene that needs to be taken more seriously by our beloved residents. Our people also have to form good habits, too. First of all, you have to make sure you have an appropriately sized waste bin.

“There is the 240-litre bin, the green one. Every flat should have it. We have had to enforce it because either people refuse to buy it or when it is broken, they refuse to change it. We cannot do everything for everybody. If you don’t containerise your waste properly, it is difficult to move it.

“In some estates or some apartments, blocks or flats, you just see a 240-litre waste bin, and you have about 14 flats. How is that enough? After a couple of hours, you see the waste overflowing because you don’t have enough waste bins.

“We evacuate waste two to three times a week. All over the world, that’s the standard. If you have a properly sized waste bin, it should hold your waste for at least three days. We also have a timetable that we give out, so when you see the waste truck coming, you take it out.”

On enforcement, the director disclosed that the current laws related to environmental protection are obsolete and require amendment. He stressed the need for stricter penalties for those who violate environmental regulations and an escalation of fines for non-compliance.

“We have an environmental health department, and they send notices to people without waste bins and people who carry out activities against environmental laws. We have an enforcement arm.

“We met with tipper drivers last week because they’ve also formed this bad habit of dumping construction waste materials all over the city. We know the tipper drivers and owners. If there is any reported case of indiscriminate construction waste, they will face the law.

“Another challenge is that our laws are obsolete. The laws we’re using now are laws of 1997 and are weak. We already have an amendment in the National Assembly. There is a need to change the law. We need to have stricter penalties. If an offender is caught, the fine is just 20,000; it’s too small.

“We are working with all stakeholders like JICA, WAPAN, Waste Pickers Association of Nigeria. We have an ongoing plastic value chain programme with UNIDO to remove plastic at the source because they have economic value for recycling and so on.

“We already have a pilot programme in Jabi, Life Camp, Gwarinpa, and Wuse 2. We have a place there: Givo, a company that takes your plastic from you and then gives you some money. These are programmes that exist, not as big as they should be but will expand with time.” He appealed to residents to pay their waste bills and be more cooperative and involved in keeping the environment clean and eco-friendly.