WASTE MANAGEMENT AND THE CHALLLENGES THEREIN

BY KINGS OFURHE   The programmes of many state governments at ensuring that their states maintain a clean and healthy environment can be best described as commendable, during to the huge financial obligations involved in evacuating and disposing of refuse and waste.

The efforts by some the Chief Executive Officers of some of the states to see that the daily waste management; its evacuation and disposal by its supervisory bodies are properly managed, have resulted in the clean environment witnessed in some of the states around.

A tour around some of the city metropolis and dumpsites within Kaduna by NAIJNEWSALERT shows that, despite the poor sanitary attitude of some of the residents in the state through their waste disposal and attitudinal management, tremendous efforts are being made by officials of the waste disposal firms under the watchful supervision of the State Ministry of Environment to ensure that the state remains clean.

The indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drains and water channels had seen the state experiencing perennial flooding in years past and with colossal damage to lives and properties.

It could be recalled that for three consecutive years; 2012-2014, Kaduna state had become worse off as related to perennial flooding, just like other states such as Kogi and Nassarawa when the rivers over flooded its banks, submerging homes and destroying properties running into several millions of naira.

Some of these floodings had been attributed to indiscriminate dumping of refuse in water channels, drains and also, unapproved construction of properties in water-ways and channels.

The efforts of the Kaduna state Ministry of Environment at ensuring that the state maintains a clean and healthy environment and a strong respect to environmental laws and policies, has attracted tremendous applause from the citizenry with several areas cleared of huge heaps of refuse from their communities, drains reopened and water channels freed of debris and weeds.

On a daily basis, it is observed that officials of the state Ministry of Environment; rain or shine, undertake the responsibility of evacuating major streets, markets and refuse dumps of huge heaps of refuse dumped indiscriminately across the city and adjoining suburbs in order to ensure that the programmes and policies of the state government, under the leadership of His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Mallam Ahmed Nasir el-Rufai as it relates to a clean and healthy environment, are successfully actualized.

And, saddled with the responsibility of this assignment, is Alhaji Shehu Balarabe Giwa, the Honourable Commissioner of the State Ministry of Environment who is daily achieving great results through a robust and an all inclusive style of leadership that is garnering respect from his staff in the Ministry and the citizenry for the exceptional successes.

The question by many has been; how has the state Ministry of Environment achieved all of these within such a short period?

According to a top official of the ministry who spoke with NAIJNEWSALERT under the condition that his name would not be disclosed, “all of these have been through the support of the Governor, His Excellency Mallam Ahmed Nasir el-Rufai whose support and insistence of a clean and healthy environment for the citizenry and not excluding a robust and all inclusive style of leadership of the Honourable Commissioner and his team of experts who are either serving as Directors, Deputy Directors and down to the least of the staff in the Ministry”.

But, with all of these, certain things may not seem right with the workings of the affairs of the Ministry of Environment in Kaduna state although, this might not be peculiar to Kaduna state alone.

This aspect is not unconnected with the issue of finance which is a national phenomenon and not peculiar with Kaduna alone. However, this has not deterred the government from delivering in its promises to rid the state of refuse as it was reliably disclosed to NAIJNEWSALERT that the state government intends to engage unemployed youths in the evacuation of waste from homes while the government in turn, pays a token amount on a monthly basis to these youths. This has been tagged: “Waste to Wealth Initiative”.

This “Waste to Wealth initiative”, according to an environmental expert is a welcomed development as it would create employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in the state and also, reduce the task of the state Ministry of Environment in providing a clean and healthy society.

The Environmental expert noted that the idea of collecting waste from homes/residences by these youths to designated collection points for eventual evacuation would reduce the unnecessary delays and indiscriminate dumping of waste in unapproved places by residents thereby exposing the populace to unsavory health hazards.

With this successfully in place, the state would easily be rid of refuse heaps and dumps while also, creating employment opportunities for thousands of unemployed youths in the state and beyond to as far as the rural communities. 

This is indeed a plus to the el-Rufai led administration and can also be emulated by other state governors in the country in the drive to create employment opportunities for the teeming youths in the country as promised by the All Progressive Congress during its election campaigns.

Job creation is a tool for national development by any nation which must be embraced by government for growth.