Waste and Lagos city

Lagos is the Centre of Excellence as claimed by Lagos state government but that is only at Alausa, the seat of government. In other areas of Lagos, filth and uncleared waste have taken over. Hardly a local government that you dont see heaps of waste that have been left uncleared for weeks.
The government has gone into partnership with private organisations to clear the waste daily but these organisations cannot cope due to the volume of waste being generated in Lagos. The population of Lagos is up to 15 million although the last census conducted in Nigeria puts it at 9 million which is questionable. Lagos is supposed to be the 4th most populous city in the world. The cosmopolitan nature of Lagos with skyrise buildings, emerging businesses and fast cars makes the city very attractive to rural dwellers and job seekers. The influx of people to Lagos on a daily basis from other cities in Nigeria and other surrounding countries is alarming.
With the millions of people generating so much waste, the government needs a comprehensive waste and environmental services that will meet the needs of all.
There is a designated dumpsite for refuse in Ojota towards the outskirt of the city. Even the dumpsite created at Ojota is not meeting the challenges. The dumpsite cannot contain up to 5 million tons of waste annually. The road to the dumpsite is not tarred. its terrible. Once it rains, the road is impassable and the trucks carrying the waste will queue for days to empty into the dumpsite. The pollution or stench from undisposed filth inside trucks for days is most time strong and choking that even passersby have to hold their noses.
Even the collection process is faulty. The government does not have a fleet of trucks to clear refuse so rely on the private organisations. These private organisations use old and almost broken down trucks which are not enough to cover the whole state. Also, there are no transfer stations. If they have transfer stations, then all the trucks collecting waste will not go to the dumpsite. Transfer stations are supposed to consolidate, compact and load waste from collection trucks into the long haul trailers for transport to dumpsites.
We are told there is a recycling plant that is supposed to recycle the waste and make the materials fit to be reused. But that is not living up to our expectations or as said earlier the waste generated are so much that the impact of the recycling plant is not felt.

Another issue in waste management in Lagos is the daily consumption of pure water. Pure water is water in small nylon sachet sold on the streets of Lagos. The used sachets are dropped on the floor after drinking and the streets and drains are littered with nylon sachets. These pure water sachets block the drains. Clearing of the drains and canals are not done often so the waste piles and become health issues affecting thousands if not millions
Another issue is that waste and refuse are supposed to be burnt locally all day through. I am told burning municipal garbage produces air pollution that might harm humans. It is also said that mass burn plants produce dioxin and part of dioxin goes up the stack and becomes air pollution and the remainder of the dioxin stays with the ash.
Doesnt this affect the environment and cause other health problems?

Of course it does! That is why I choose it as a topic for my blog today.