An Assessment of Solid Waste Management in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria

Background: Sanitation has remained an important and long standing global public health challenge, especially in middle and low income countries. Efforts have been made, and are still being made at finding a total solution to the problems of waste management by successive governments in Nigeria, but none has been fruitful. This study assessed solid waste management in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Methodology: For the purpose of this research, a qualitative approach was adopted. This approach employed the use of a Key Informant Interview (KII) and a Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The study was carried out in Ikenne Local Government Area, one of the existing local council areas in Ogun State, the Southwestern part of the country. Twelve personnel of the Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) department of Ikenne Local Government Area were interviewed for the purpose of this study. The sample consists of the director, deputy director, three chief environmental officers, two senior environmental officers, and five field workers. Results: The respondents stated that there are just two collection trucks servicing the entire five communities. The stress placed on these vehicles would only last for a short while as they are liable to break down. The department also lacks personal protective equipment for health attendants, which ought to help them prevent infectious diseases in the course of performing their duties. Households from the three different communities have shown their dissatisfaction towards the services rendered to the communities by the WES department. They voiced out their displeasures during the focused group discussions where most of them said they are rarely served, even on environmental sanitation days. These options revolve around seeking a redress to institutional constraints. Lack of reliable funding system has affected a lot of functions that ought to be carried out by environmental officers. It all comes down to a single factor – fund. The provision of official vans for inspection purposes, collection trucks, manpower (skilled and unskilled) and other tools are all determined by availability of funds. Conclusion: The study was able to establish that institutional constraint is the major factor militating against solid waste management systems in Ikenne Local Government Area. Every finger points towards this direction and so also the institution admits to this fact. When there is no collection vehicle to carry wastes, the available ones can only serve a few of the population. This is not to say that manpower to collect wastes from households is less important, as they are needed to transfer the wastes into the trucks and also dispose of them, as the services rendered to the people.