By Jennifer Y Omiloli
Dr. Mohammed Mamoud, Environment Minister, says the issue of urban solid waste is one of the country’s most serious environmental challenges.
During the commissioning and handover of the Community-based waste management project in the Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, Mamoud made this known.
The Community-based Waste Management Program is the Federal Government’s intervention scheme for municipal solid waste management.
It is designed to assist states in the environmentally sound management of their municipal solid waste.
The minister said municipal solid waste risk could be related to urban migration, increasing growth, urban slums development, industrialization, shifts in patterns of consumption.
He added that others involve insufficient planning, inadequate resources and facilities to handle waste generated in a sustainable manner.
“The menace posed by municipal solid waste in Nigeria, particularly in our urban areas is one of the gravest environmental challenges facing the country.
“In recent years, states and local governments throughout the federation have intensified efforts to ensure that municipal solid wastes generated within their domains are properly managed,” he said.
However, he said the problem persisted as all kinds of waste were indiscriminately disposed of in open and unlined pits, drainage systems, water bodies, and any space available.
The minister said more worrisome was the disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, including hospital waste, in dump sites and burnt open as these practices pose great health and environmental risks.
Against this background, he said that the Federal Government designed the Community-based Waste Management Program as a wealth initiative intervention waste to help states manage their waste in an environmentally sound manner.
