Editorial
Managing Waste Disposal In Rivers
Following the return of heaps of refuse on major high ways, streets, and at different junctions across Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor Local Government Councils, the Rivers State Government has terminated contracts of all firms assigned to collect waste in the metropolis. A statement from the government indicated that the decision to terminate their contracts with the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) was because of their inability to fulfill their contractual obligations to the state.
According to the state government, the contractual agreement signed with all waste collectors across the state was designed to ensure a cleaner, healthier environment for the residents of the State. But the termination of their contract became effective immediately. The chairmen of the said councils were subsequently appointed to assume responsibility for the disposal of waste in their areas pending the appointment of new contractors.
The Tide observed that there were large dumps of refuse on virtually all the roads and available spaces, especially on the median of major highways. Investigation revealed that this was caused by improper disposal of waste by residents and the inability of the refuse disposal service providers to do their job. While some residents can afford to pay waste disposal operators for their services, others who cannot afford to do so dump garbage indiscriminately.
We are fully supporting the action of the state government in sacking the waste contractors, given the obvious failure to fulfill their contractual duties to keep the city clean and healthy. We need to crack down on gross indiscipline in waste management. The waste in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor, home to over 50 per cent of the state’s population, is troubling and unacceptable. It endangers the health of the people and negatively alters the “Garden City” status of the metropolis.
Furthermore, the accumulation of waste runs contrary to the essence of Governor Nyesom Wike’s urban renewal programme. Considering that the general election in 2023 is fast approaching, the development would not be in the best interest of the current administration that the state capital is gradually turning into a garbage city by waste contractors who have withdrawn their services.
Since waste evacuation in a densely populated city like Port Harcourt is capital-intensive, it should not be left in the hands of the Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor council chairmen longer than necessary. However, it is good news that the state government realised that and promised to appoint new waste contractors soon. Let this be done in the shortest possible time.
This is even more compelling now than ever as the rains have begun to unleash their venom on residents, devastating communities. The recent escalation of storm floods around vulnerable and often prone areas in some local government areas and communities, especially in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor, underscores the pressing need for drains, water channels, and canals, among others, to be desilted.
Attention must be paid to the main creeks and water channels of the state capital, especially Nta-Wogba, Nwaja through the Bori Camp, Rumuola, Rumuigbo, and Mgbuoba. Others include the Mini-Ezekwu, Rumuodara, Eliozu, Rumuodomaya, Rumuaghalu, Nkpor, Rumuosi, Elelenwo, Rumuokurusi, Elimgbu, Eneka, Rukpokwu, Aleto, Iriebe and Rumuakurusi.
The Eneka channels that have frequently resulted in severe flooding in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor should be emptied of debris, while canalisation should be strengthened to ensure that underground water channels are not obstructed through insouciant refuse disposal practices and irregular building of residential and industrial property.
The lack of waste management infrastructure coupled with the congestion problem of Port Harcourt makes it difficult to manage the sprawling city, and this is taking a toll on its residents. Because of inadequate awareness of waste management, residents indiscriminately dispose of waste in drainage canals, gutters and streets. The rubbish then accumulates to block drainage channels in residential areas and the inhabitants suffer the consequences.
Over the years, studies have shown that rapid population growth and the expansion of urban centres which followed the oil boom in the 1970s and industrialisation came with a modification in the waste stream in the country. This is the result of an increased use of goods to satisfy and meet the needs of the teeming population, culminating into a substantial increase in the amount of wastes generated.
It is thus essential to note that waste generation and population growth operate hand in hand. Waste disposal management has become a major concern despite repeated attempts by successive governments and private organisations to do so. This is why it is common to see piles of rotten garbage in nearly every corner of the country today.
Residential apartments, markets, waterways, motorways, streets and undeveloped land have become landfills for many households. Unsurprisingly, it is generally said that in Nigeria, waste increases are in a geometric progression and collection while disposal are in an arithmetic progression. This requires urgent expertise in waste management, because the primacy of a healthy environment for meaningful and productive work is linked to good waste oversight.
Waste disposal is everyone’s business since we produce it in just about everything we do. In the past, it was considered a resource. This was because the waste that was generated was mainly agricultural and was biodegradable and as such disposal was not a problem as the volume of the product was low, and these agricultural wastes helped to enrich the soil. This is not the case today as waste is a major concern that needs to be addressed urgently rather than considered a resource.
To overcome this challenge, the factors responsible for the poor management of waste disposal must be identified. These include the lack of adequate funding, over-population, lack of a comprehensive legal framework, and the application of existing regulations. Luckily, RIWAMA has not complained of the dirth of adequate funding. As long as these demanding issues are not dealt with appropriately, boldly and diligently by the authorities and those concerned, managing waste disposal in the state will remain a recurring nightmare.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
