An environmentalist and African Regional Coordinator of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiative, Ene Baba Owoh, says at least 120 million Nigerians are living in unclean environments.
He told Daily Trust that investigations had shown that in the last 20 years, only Lagos, Bauchi and Akwa Ibom States had raised their allocations in waste management.
He also blamed the situation on poor implementation of relevant environmental laws in terms of monitoring, evaluation and sanctions.
Baba, who is also the national coordinator of Clean-Up Nigeria (CUN), said: “There’s also the lack of political will by the government to prioritise the issue of environment or cleanliness. I’ve not heard where politicians seeking office have included the issues of environment in their manifesto. It has not been a priority. So, until we get to that level, things will not change.
“There’s also the issue of poverty, the cost of living has gone up dramatically without a commensurate raise in salary and people just live for survival.”
He also blamed Nigerians for leaving everything to the government, saying “for most Nigerians, they don’t believe that cleanliness is their responsibility, they believe government should do everything for them and that’s why we litter the streets and expect the government to come and clean it for us”.
