5 key environmental issues Nigeria is struggling to address

The Nigerian environment has been challenged by several menaces, which it has continued to struggle to bring to a halt over the years now. While the struggle to address them continues to gain momentum, the reality on the ground seems to leave much to be desired.

It’s no news that issues of Flooding, waste management, open defecation, drought, pollution, erosion, landslide, desertification, extinction of wild animals, illegal tree felling, and emission of greenhouse gases among others have been raving the Nigerian environment, though it is not peculiar to it alone as they have become a global phenomenon.

As the year 2024 ends and scorecards are being generated, Daily Trust takes a look at the most pressing issue of the environment, which the solution is still far fetched or has defiled all efforts to address, as they continue to wreak havoc every year.

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Flood

Floods in Nigeria have become a yearly menace that leaves indelible marks on Nigerians whenever it occurs. In fact, the issue of flooding in the country is best described as layers of onions, the more it unfolds, the more tears are shed.

Floods have been attributed to infrastructural inadequacies, and unsustainable use of the environment, improper waste disposal methods among others.

Though, Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Rivers and Taraba were identified as frontline states at the risk of flooding the 2024 flood went beyond these states and affected so many other states

In 2024, the biggest flood was that of Alau Dam in Borno State, which displaced over 400, 000 people and affected several infrastructure, markets, schools, healthcare facilities and businesses.

A report produced by OCHA Nigeria in collaboration with humanitarian organizations also highlighted over 300 people dead and 1.2 million affected by floods in 33 states in Nigeria.

It said Floods affect vast tracts of farmland across the country, with the top five most impacted states including Taraba, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto and Jigawa, threatening food security.

While NEMA and the relevant State Ministries and departments work to coordinate the emergency response, including sending out relief material, advocacy to communities at risk, and evacuation, among other activities, not much has been achieved in addressing the issue of flood

Plastic waste

It has been on Nigeria’s timeline over the years to ban the use of single-use plastics because of the serious menace it causes for both man and aquatic life. Successive administrations have expressed interest in both pronouncement and affirmation to ban the use of plastic bags but failed to achieve that.

While Nigeria has joined the global efforts to curb plastic waste by banning the use of plastics, enforcement is still a challenge.

In January, Nigeria became the latest African country to fight a mounting waste crisis by banning single-use plastics.

Within the African continent, at least 34 countries have banned various forms of single-use plastics and packaging — 99% of which are made from the fossil fuels that drive climate change.

Rwanda pioneered these efforts in 2008 with a ban on one-way plastic bags and bottles, and the clean streets of the capital Kigali are the barometer of success across the region.

Plastic waste management in Nigeria is almost non-existent as it is still struggling to enforce the ban but plastics are still much in use and litter everywhere.

Waste Management

In most cities, on the road, in markets, in malls, and in open spaces, waste is the first thing that welcomes you with its stench borne by rotten items that pollute the atmosphere.

Though there are extant laws and regulations on waste management, open refuse dumps are rife in the country as a result of ineffective enforcement mechanisms and strategies.

Nigeria is said to generate 32 million metric tonnes of waste annually (2.5 million tonnes of this is plastic waste). With an annual growth rate of 2.4%, waste generation in Nigeria will increase in subsequent years.

A World Bank report in 2020 shows that only 31 per cent out of the estimated 213 million population in Nigeria use safely managed sanitation. Also, it estimated that the amount of waste generated daily by each Nigerian at 0.51kg with total waste forecasted to reach 107 million tonnes by 2050.

A report by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy showed that Nigeria falls among the 30 countries with the worst waste management practices out of 180 countries in the world.

It said with a score of 12.7 out of 100, Nigeria performed way below average compared with the performances of its neighbours in Sub-Saharan Africa —Seychelles and Equatorial Guinea with scores of 69.10 and 63.10 respectively.

There are an array of waste management regulations and enforcement agencies both at the federal and state levels established to provide basic guidelines and coordination for the sustainable use of the environment but they failed to control indiscriminate dumping of waste

Open Defecation

Nigeria is said to be the world’s leading country in open defecation, with 48 million Nigerians practicing the practice as of November 2023.

Experts said Open defecation has a negative impact on the health and education of the population, especially children. It also contributes to Nigeria’s annual loss of 1.3% of its GDP due to poor sanitation.

Though, Nigeria has made some efforts to address open defecation through some initiatives like ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet’ which was launched after a state of emergency in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) was declared in 2018, but so little was achieved as open defecation is still and widely practice in the country.

The country recently developed a National Roadmap to make Nigeria open-defecation-free by 2025. The roadmap includes an estimated cost for the government and private sector to construct sanitation facilities.

Meanwhile, the International Bar Association suggested that the state and federal assemblies should criminalise open defecation, especially in cities. The laws should also require public and private buildings to have toilets with running water

Pollution

According to the year 2021 world air quality report based on PM2.5, Nigeria was ranked the 3rd most polluted country in Africa, and 18th most polluted in the world. Benin City and Abuja were ranked the 2nd and the 3rd most polluted municipal areas in Nigeria.

Reports said due to a large increase in population, as well as an explosion of industries, multinational corporations and businesses being set up, there is subsequently a noticeable and dangerously prominent rise in air pollution,

While there is water pollution, noise pollution and soil pollution in Nigeria, experts said there is a prominent amount of air pollution taking place, which has been on record for causing a growing number of health issues and deaths over the years.

In Nigeria, different causes of pollution, range from the movement and activities of people, up to disasters, both man-made and natural, houses using either kerosene stoves or simple wood-burning ones, of which one of the most consistent causes of pollution would be vehicular emissions, something which is pervasive throughout the entire country.

Government efforts

The former Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako said their agenda is to reduce all forms of air pollutants to 50 per cent globally by 2030, saying, if they fail to take action and reverse the current high level of air pollution in the country and the world, the repercussions for public health, economy, environment and their survival is far reaching.

He said the ministry through its regulatory/enforcement agencies and in collaboration with other MDAs is working to improve the quality of air being inhaled by Nigerians using multifaceted policy instruments, legislations, programmes and projects to regulate, enforce and promote minimum air quality standards.

He said they are working to establish a national framework to guide states that are setting up vehicular and generator Emissions Testing Centres in line with the minimum standards developed by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria.

Also, the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal said they have made efforts to promote a circular economy and achieve zero waste management in the country through the provision of plastic waste reverse vending machines recently in partnership with UNIDO.

He said the plastic waste generated in the country provides unique opportunities for harnessing the circular economy business model across the plastic value chain.

This is in addition to the development of the implementation guidelines for the National Policy on Plastic Waste Management, which was unveiled in December 2024 towards achieving sustainable development and environmental stewardship.