By Juliet Ogbolu
KWALE/Nigeria: With increasing in human activities, waste is increasingly generated, and most times especially in well developed society, these wastes are converted to energy or for alternative products, as they have gone past the era of disposing refuse indiscriminately.
As far as the early ’80s, when Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) was the Military Head of State and Late Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon was the Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters, War Against Indiscipline (WAI) was introduced. Then, it was a grievous offense to throw things indiscriminately. The punishment was that soldiers would give you the beating of your life and mete out other punitive measures against you.
Those days are history for so many towns in Nigeria now.
It’s based on the increasing rate of refuse generation, without proper disposal system that we try to find out what was the cause of the problem, as we went through most of the streets in the town of Kwale, the administrative Headquarters of Ndokwa West Local Government Area.
A Typical Refuse Scene in Kwale, Ndokwa West Local Government Area, Delta State.
Our investigation revealed much, which to a sane society much offences will be paid, but in Kwale, nobody cares how and where he disposes refuse. It is common to see part of even tarred roads turned to refuse dumps.
Along Ashaka road, very close to the office of Federal Road Safety Commission, part of the road is covered with refuse. Information we gathered has it that the Local Government Council bought the burrow pit to be used as a site for dumping of refuse. But people within the neighborhood would rather throw it along the road than inside the pit.
Oshilim Street, off F & F Street, Umusadege, is another ugly site to behold. The refuse has taken over the road to the extent that the stench which comes from it discourages people from using the road, especially when it rains.
Adege Street, after Donak Hospital is another case in question. The refuse along that road has practically made it so small for motorists and motorcyclists.
So many other streets in Kwale are not left out in this display of poor hygiene values. No one needs to be told about the health hazard this practice constitutes in our society. But then, the question is “what are the health workers doing about this”? We often see health workers going from one shop to the other, from office to office, from one business premise to another, demanding money for provision of health related services. How then is it that the Local Government Council is looking the other way as though nothing is wrong?
Under normal circumstances, how can the council approve sites within the heart of people’s dwelling place as refuse dumps? The ideal thing to do is for such sites to be situated far away from town. Also, we are aware of certain people who have been contracted to dispose refuse. But it seems as if there is no monitoring unit to oversee the activities of these contractors as long as they bring returns to the council.
The bottom line here is that something needs to be done and fast too. There has to be a task force to see to it that indiscriminate dumping of refuse is stopped. It is within the jurisdiction of the local government council to enact laws to this effect and back it up with action.
Furthermore, the health department can liaise with the various community leaders and age groups to make things move in the right direction. Are the local government chairman and his supervisory councilor for health listening? Let them go to work.
