One major indicator of the level of development of any society is the management of waste disposal. Similarly, the most vulnerable place to detect public waste disposal standard in any urban town is the gutter. For individual homes, toilets and kitchens are tell-tale places to watch. Wastes range from household refuse, including human and animal dungs, to industrial and chemical wastes which would include black soot. Sources of various wastes have to do with human activities which include economic and other engagements.
There is a sad observation that monthly environmental sanitation exercises which used to be taken seriously in the past no longer hold in urban towns. The result of this slur in sustaining a healthy environmental and waste disposal culture, is visible in the standard of public and personal hygiene. In music, slur or diminuendo would be likened to reduction in the tempo of interest, energy or movement. In the case of state organised monthly sanitisation of the environment, the slur or diminuendo should be likened to the loss of the voice of singers in a joyful song.
In the past, there used to be a public announcements via the mass media, some days to the last Saturday of the month, that there would be a compulsory environmental sanitation, usually between 7-10 am. It was quite a necessary stimulus whereby everyone was compelled to stay indoors and participate in keeping surroundings and homes clean. Everybody did not like the exercise for various reasons, but it was very necessary as a means of fostering the habit of keeping our environment clean. Even if it meant rearranging things in the home, the monthly environmental sanitation had a good tonic effect.
Prior to 1960, there used to be Sanitary Inspectors, at least in the Eastern area of Nigeria, who went from one community or village, to another, to enforce environmental sanitation. Sanitary Inspectors did not spare villages and village or community heads that fell short of expected sanitary standards; even though there were those who had goats, chickens and yams as gifts. Surely the era of the Sanitary Inspectors was a healthy and disciplined beginning for Nigeria, but after the Civil War the tempo for environmental sanitation dropped sadly.
For those who lived in barracks and other government quarters, monthly barracks inspection and audit of residential quarters, were strictly observed exercises. Even during inspection parades any member of the police or armed forces could be asked to bring out the handkerchief in his pocket, for public display, as a standard of personal hygiene. The era of late Etim Inyang as Divisional Police Officer at Mile 1 Diobu Police Station was marked as a proud period of competition to win a prize for a clean and disciplined environment. But today, the story is different, with barracks being ranked as dirtiest places in the country currently.
One sad truth about human behavioural pattern is that when there is a slur or diminuendo in the tempo of personal discipline, laxity sets in gradually. It is also true that exemplary leadership is an inspiration and the best starting point to maintain ideal standards. What we find more often is the issue of sermons, threats and punitive measures from those who should lead by personal examples which are transparent and worthy of emulation. Truly, exemplary leadership can be quite contagious in the sense that followers copy and would like to adopt the lifestyle of noble leaders.
But a situation where a zealous champion harping on how not to be corrupt is seen in privacy to be the opposite of the precepts which he doles out daily, then gossips and whispers about hypocrisy would abound. One truth about the Nigerian masses is that they have become wiser in recent times, as a result of the hypocrisy and shenanigans of their leaders and the political class, who are known to speak from both sides of the mouth. With regard to the issue of sanitation, it is true that state of the entire Nigerian environment is a mirror-image of the collective standard of the soul of Nigeria.
What is meant here as the soul of Nigeria should be understood to refer to the collective psyche or mindset of the citizens of the country, which is always the sum total of the standard of development of the country. This standard or status may not be written on the faces of individual Nigerians, but the indicators can be picked up or seen with regard to environmental sanitation. Watch the man who smokes a cigarette and see how he disposes of the but after consumption. Majority of Nigerians are quite care free and insensitive with regard to how they dispose of the remains of what they consume.
Look at the gutters and drainage system wherever you are, and see the blockages: there are thousands of plastic products, waterproof and sachet-water wrappings, etc. Consumers of fast foods find it quite difficult to make sure that the environment is not littered with the remains of what they have consumed. Usually refuse disposal habits reflect values and level of development of individuals, as well as the concern shown towards a healthy and clean environment. With Nigerians the care-free attitude towards the environment cuts across social class boundaries, with the high and low behaving alike.
From observation of COVID-19 pandemic protocols in public places, to the disposal of human wastes, it is rare to see any difference between the elite class and the “agbero” or motor-park touts. Thus the level of obtuseness among citizens of any country shows the level of inner development of the people; whereby a strong feeling of shame is a clear distinguishing factor for a deep concern for the environment. Shamelessness shows not only in outward behaviours and deeds, but more in absence of concern for others and the wider environment. Do we really get away with our wrong doing?
Surely, Nigerians need some proddings, stimulus and constant reminders to be able to imbibe a steady culture of environmental sustainability. Such culture of placing value on a clean and sanitary environment would predispose individuals to be mindful of what they throw out to the public. Environmental pollutions come about not only from physical wastes that are not disposed of properly; but also from psychological pollutants. Psychic pollutants arise from thoughts, mindset and attitudes that are ignoble and unedifying. Such would include emotions like hatred, envy, fear, greed, etc.
Much prattlings about corruption have been more of hypocrisies, because, when there is a wide spread slur or diminuendo in concern for a healthy environment, such state manifests as corruption. It is a diminution of deep feeling of shame which blurs and dims the conscience, such that an individual can engage in shameful and bestial acts without concern about consequences for self, others, the environment and the future. Such obtuse state of the human psyche shows evidently in the ways that individuals dispose of wastes. We also waste much time talking!

By: Bright Amirize
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.