Abstract
Waste
management has become a common issue of discourse among individuals, groups and
governments. This study which assessed solid waste
management in Ogun state with focus on Ijebu-ode specifically
sought to find out why indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps has persisted in Ijebu-ode
, investigate the measures put in place to curtail the tide
and ascertain the extent to which indiscriminate
waste disposal affects people’s health and environment. Four null hypotheses were formulated and
Human Capital Theory was adopted as the
theoretical framework. The study used survey design whereby data were collected from the sample
considered to be representative of the population. Taro Yameni’s formula was applied
to reduce the initial population of 116,987
to a smaller researchable size of 399 while data were collected through structured questionnaire.
The data collected were presented in tables containing
frequencies of the responses and their corresponding percentages. The four hypotheses of the study
were tested using chi-square (X2 )
statistical tool
and the result of the analyses revealed that: there is currently no government approved dumpsites in Ijebu-ode
metropolis, most communicable
diseases are contracted from dirty environment, among others. The implications are that
most households will soon be cut off by flood
arising from the blockage of water channels, some streets and roads will be blocked by heaps of wastes
and more epidemics will be contracted by the
people if nothing urgent was done. The study concluded that, the Ogun State Environmental Protection
Agency (OSEPA)
currently have no required
manpower, technical skills and competences to curtail the tide of waste and therefore made the
following recommendations: Ogun state government
should strengthen the already established departments of Environmental and Health Sciences
in universities and schools of technology in the state by providing and equipping them with modern waste management
equipment for students to be exposed to
practical methods of waste management, Government should contract foreign-based private firm through
Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement
to establish waste management industry in Ogun state, immediate provision of permanent
waste dumpsites by the government, among
others.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Waste
often generated by human beings since time immemorial has continued to be a threatening
problem and a growing one that is of major
concern
to every nation of the world. In Nigeria today, among the pressing environmental and public health
issues are the problems of solid waste
generation,
control and disposal. Although the problem of solid waste disposal is as old as man’s
existence that is inextricably linked to the
generation
of waste, the truth is that in many cities, it has become so intractable that even the
government is overwhelmed (Jimoh, 2005,
Momodu,
Dimuna and Dimuna, 2011).
Waste in the words of
Douglas (2004) is any unwanted and discarded
material
that arises from the activities of humans and animals on earth. For Onwughara, Nnorom and Kanno (2010),
Solid Waste (SW)covers a broad
range of materials including garbage, refuse from factories, commercial refuse, construction and
demolition debris, dead animals and
abandoned
vehicles, food particles, plastics, bottles, polythene material (nylon bag), metallic objects,
furniture/wood material, paper and some other unclassified
wastes. Rodgers (2011) submits that waste management is a systematic control of the generation,
storage, collection, transportation,
separation,
processing, recovery and disposal of waste.
In
pre-industrial times, when population was small, waste was disposed on the ground, thrown into
water, burnt or thrown into pit where it
would
turn to compost manure to improve soil fertility. From history, man is believed to have always adopted
dumping, burning, manual recycling and
waste
minimization as waste management strategies with less than proportionate result in terms of
cleaner and healthier environment. One can
therefore
say that human development or growth has been intrinsically tied to the management of waste,
apparently due to its effects on public and
environmental
health, (Chukwuemeka, Ugwu and Igwegbe, 2012, and Ndinwa,
Akpafun and Chukwuma, 2012).
Today,
due to rapid industrialization, increase in population and industralization,
the generation, disposal or management of waste has proved to be a major environmental and public
health issue. This experience is always
so,
especially in developing countries like Nigeria where there is lack of or inappropriate strategies for
managing wastes. Waste
management today
has become an intractable environmental problem that can be likened to a monster staring everybody on
the face. Solid
waste dumps apart from its gory sight that destroy the aesthetics (beauty) of the
environment have always affected the people’s health
by decomposing to produce provoking odour or contaminating our drinking water. This no doubt,
causes avoidable epidemics. This
was what promoted the federal government of Nigeria to promulgate decree 58 for the
establishment of Federal Environmental
Protection
Agency (FEPA) on 30th December, 1988 (Momodu et al (2011). A National Policy on the
Environment was also formed to secure for all Nigerians
a quality of environment adequate for their health and well being. This was immediately followed with
compulsory monthly environmental
sanitation that takes place simultaneously nationwide, all things being equal, till today on
every last Saturday between the hours of
7am-10am,
Agunwamba (1998) cited in Momodu et al (2011). He submitted that in spite of the formulation of
FEPA and a national environmental policy,
the
environment has not been adequately protected. It
should be recalled that, prior to the creation of Ogun state in February 1976, Ijebu-ode was faced with myriad
of environmental problems ranging
from inadequate environmental education and awareness campaign to poor personal and environmental
hygiene. Every street was adorned with
heaps
of refuse while Iyiokwu and Iyiudele rivers, in Ijebu-ode were
converted
to dumping arena for domestic wastes and human excreta. It is on record that the World Youths Soccer
Championship slated for Nigeria in
1995
was cancelled because of the outbreak of cholera (a product of filthy environment) in Ijebu-ode (Uka,
2013). It was in response to the foregoing
realities in Ogun State upon its
creation
in 1976,
that prompted the government to set up the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OSEPA) on 6th December, 1996, to clean, protect and conserve the
environment. While it cannot be denied that
for
quite some time, Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OSEPA) as a state government agency
has always embarked on some routine
clearance of wastes, especially in the capital city (daily, weekly and monthly), provision of plastic
dustbins for waste collection and evacuation, stationing
of waste collection trucks in strategic places within the metropolis and its suburbs, house-to-house
sanitary inspection and waste collection, the intractable
nature of wastes always noticeable in
Ijebu-ode leaves much to
be desired especially as the local government whose constitutional responsibility it is
to properly dispose and control these
wastes,
have been doing nothing. This has been why the commonly repeated experience is a simple transfer of
refuse from one point to another in open
trucks
to some undesignated sites where they are either burnt or buried (Onwughara et al, 2010 and, Nkwede
and \Nwuzor,
2015).
We
are now confronting the massive volume of solid waste that people generate
daily and globally. According to UNEP (2011: 292), “every year, an estimated
11.2 billion tons of solid waste are collected worldwide and decay of the
organic proportion of solid waste is contributing to about 5 per cent of global
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions” which in turn accelerates climate change. Clark
and Matharu (2013: 66) insist that “the planet currently generates
approximately 1.3Gt of solid waste per year, which is expected to increase to
2.2Gt by 2025.” This huge amount of waste is a problem, and the question is how
to deal with this waste crisis. Waste management is crucial to reducing the
negative impacts of waste on the environment, and its consequences to human beings.
It is the goal of waste management to treat waste in a safe and proper manner,
in order to minimize harm or damage to the environment. Disposal methods such
as landfilling are directly related to human health issues, as well as the
environment. For instance, UNEP (2011: 302) blames landfills for generating
methane as “the largest source of GHG emissions, caused by the anaerobic
degradation of organic material in landfills and unmonitored dumpsites.” Like
this, waste management is deeply connected to consumption, resource
utilization, environmental problems, and human health. Thus, many developed and
developing countries have committed to establishing safe and efficient waste
management techniques in their countries, expecting to minimize the negative impacts
of waste on the environment. Norway, one of the richest countries in the world,
is expanding its waste management efforts in order to deal with its huge
quantity of waste. In Norway, the quantity of waste has increased by 60 per
cent since 19951 . As a result, the country has set national waste targets, the
first being that “the total quantity of waste shall be considerably lower than
the economic growth,” as indicated in the national waste strategy report (The
Norwegian Environmental Protection Agency, 2013; 11).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The
problem of solid waste generation, control, especially, disposal or simply, management, has
continued to be a threatening global and
environmental
health issue but more pronounced in developing countries like Nigeria. In fact, Ogun State major centres including Ijebu-ode are today grappling with the problems caused
by indiscriminate heaps of solid wastes
from
the environment. This is despite the continuous government and individual efforts including daily,
weekly or monthly environmental sanitation.
Although Ogun State government has always claimed to have imported some machines to be used
in waste management including promising
and paying the contractors on actuality bases, the truth is that such machines/equipment if any, have not
been seen to be doing anything especially
as there is still no matching manpower skills and intelligence to manipulate them even among the Ogun
State Environmental Protection Agency
(OSEPA) staff as the agency is statutorily and structurally deficient in that regard. Therefore, the persistent increase
in the number of indiscriminate solid
waste disposal/dumps despite the provision of the customized Ogun State Environmental Protection
Agency (OSEPA) waste bins/stationary
trucks
which has continued to affect people’s health and environment in Ijebu-ode without any concrete
management strategy in place necessitated
this research.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The
purpose
of the study is
to assess solid
waste management in Ijebu-ode .
Specifically, the study sought to:
·
Find out why the number of
indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps
has continued to increase in Ijebu-ode
despite the provisions
of the customized Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OSEPA) waste bins/stationary
trucks.
•
Investigate measures already put in place to ensure that the Ogun State Environmental Protection
Agency (OSEPA) equipment curtail the
tide
of indiscriminate solid waste dumps in Ijebu-ode .
•
Ascertain the extent to which indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps have contributed to
health complications suffered by the
people
in Ijebu-ode .
•
Ascertain the number of ways in which indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps affect the
Ijebu-ode environment.
1.4 Research Questions
The study will attempt to find answers to the
following questions:
i.
Will
the number of indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps increase despite the
provisions of the customized Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OSEPA)
waste bin/stationery trucks?
ii.
Will
measures already put in place to ensure that the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OSEPA)
equipment curtail the tide of indiscriminate solid waste dumps in Ijebu-Ode?
iii.
Will
indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps have contributed to health
complications?
iv.
Will
the numbers of ways in which indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps affect
the environment?
1.5
Research Hypotheses
Ho1: Lack
of clear knowledge and skills to make
solid
wastes useful is not the main
reason for the persistent increases in the
number
of indiscriminate solid waste dumps in
Ijebu-ode
Ho2: None of the measures already put in place to
curtail the tide of indiscriminate solid waste disposal/dumps in Ijebu-ode is
capable of doing so
Ho3: Most
epidemic outbreaks in Ijebu-ode are
not caused by waste
Ho4: Destruction
of the aesthetics, blockage of roads (streets) and
water channels in Ijebu-ode,
are not mostly caused by heaps of
indiscriminate
solid wastes was rejected
1.6
Delimitation of the Study
This study was delimited to the following:
1.
Perceived
causes of indiscriminate refuse disposal among residents of Ijebu-Ode Local
Government Area of Ogun State.
2.
Descriptive
survey research design
3.
Descriptive
statistic frequent count and percentage
4.
Self
structured questionnaire as instrument for data collection.
5.
Independent
variable of Waste, refuse disposal, Waste Management
1.7 Significance of the Study
This study will serve as:
i.
An avenue to open new
vistas in making waste less harmful and more useful
through proper management.
ii.
It also uncovered the reasons for the dismal performance of government
even through OSEPA in waste management.
iii.
This will surely give room for concerned
stakeholders in waste management
to fashion out new strategies that would be adopted or adopt the suggested strategies that will nip
indiscriminate solid waste disposal in the
bud
in Ijebu-ode .
1.8 Definition of Terms
Causes: The source or reason of an event or
action
Indiscriminate: Is the act of being impartial or
something or a cause.
Refuse: Collective items or materials that
have been discarded
Disposal: The act of eliminating or getting rid
of something
Residents: A person living at a location or in an
area
Refuse Disposal: The
act of eliminating or getting rid of collective items that
are no longer in use.
Waste
Management: Waste management are all the
activities and actions required to manage waste from
its inception to its final disposal.
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