Safe disposal of municipal wastes in Nigeria: perspectives on a rights based approach

Abstract

The safe disposal of municipal waste is imperative for the realisation of several fundamental human rights, most especially the right to life and the right to a healthy environment. Nigeria is a signatory to and has ratified the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). Ratification of the ACHPR comes with the attendant responsibility of maintaining a healthy environment. The entitlement to a healthy environment is also a constitutional right in Nigeria, albeit in a non-justifiable form. However challenges abound in the area of municipal waste management which negate the realisation, protection and fulfilment of the right to a healthy environment as enshrined in both the Constitution and the ACHPR. While rudimentary frameworks for waste disposal exist especially in the form of municipal and environmental laws and judicial remedies, poor funding, lack of modern scientific methods of waste management, treatment and disposal, the non-enforcement cum non-justiciability of laws and poor access to judicial remedies have resulted in the near-total failure of responsible municipal authorities to execute their mandate thus leading to an appalling state of affairs in the management of municipal solid waste in most parts of Nigeria. It may seem that the municipal authorities have contributed largely to the failure of the system by not improving capacity to meet with contemporary responsibilities. Furthermore, the prevailing piecemeal approach of treating safe disposal of wastes as an “add on” arguably demonstrates an institutional failure and inadequate understanding by authorities that without proper waste management, the realisation, protection and fulfilment of a number of social and economic human right in Nigeria will remain illusory. This paper discusses the need for a more human rights based understanding of the need for proper management and safe disposal of municipal wastes in Nigeria. This paper analyzes the existing legal framework on waste management in Nigeria and elaborates on relevant provisions of law, judicial decisions and legislative interventions that support a rights-based understanding of waste management and disposal in Nigeria; and concludes by recommending positive actions and reforms that could give impetus to a more robust and efficient waste management system in Nigeria.

Keywords: Nigeria, municipal, waste disposal, environment, environmental rights.