Nigeria is located in Western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea. The country’s land borders with the
Republic of Benin in the West, Chad and Cameroon in the East, and Niger in the north and has a
coastline of at least 853km. Nigeria has a varied landscape, from the Obudu Hills in the southeast
through the beaches in the south, the rainforest, the Lagos estuary and savannah in the middle and
south west of the country and the Sahel to the encroaching Sahara in the extreme north.
The country has two main rivers: Niger and Benue. The two rivers converge and empty into the Niger
Delta, the world’s largest river delta. Nigeria is a developing country, with a land area of 923,768
km2, and a population of over 200 million with growth rate of 2.38. Nigeria is the most populous
country in Africa and ninth most populous country in the world. With populations distributed at
48.3% urban and 57.7% rural and population density at 139 people per square km. The country has
GDP per capita of $1,800 and population below poverty line is 60%. Nigeria has a labour force of
50.13 million.
The country comprises thirty-six states and one Federal Capital Territory, which were further
subdivided, into 774 Local Government Areas. Life expectancy is 47 years (average male/female).
68% of the populations are literate and the rate of men (75.7%) is higher than for women (60.9%).
The climate is equatorial in south, tropical in centre and arid in north. 33.02% of the land is arable.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has promulgated various laws and regulations to safeguard the
environment. These include Federal Environmental Protection Agency Act of 1988. The Federal
Ministry of Environment administers and enforces environmental laws in Nigeria. It took over this
function in 1999 from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA), which was created
under the FEPA Act. Pursuant to the FEPA Act, each state and local government in the country set up
its own environmental protection body for the protection and improvement of the environment
within its jurisdiction.
Municipal solid waste management is a major responsibility of state and local government
environmental agencies. The agencies are charged with the responsibility of handling, employing
and disposing of solid waste generated. The state agencies generate fund from subvention from
state governments and internally generated revenue through sanitary levy and stringent regulations
with heavy penalties for offenders of illegal dumping and littering of refuse along streets.
Solid waste management has emerged as one of the greatest challenges facing state and local
government environmental protection agencies in Nigeria. The volume of solid waste being
generated continues to increase at a faster rate than the ability of the agencies to improve on the
financial and technical resources needed to parallel this growth. Solid waste management in Nigeria
is characterized by inefficient collection methods, insufficient coverage of the collection system and
improper disposal of solid waste. The quantity of solid waste generated in urban areas in
industrialized countries is higher than in developing countries; still municipal solid waste
management remains inadequate in the latter.
Solid waste in developing countries differs from developed countries. Most developing countries,
Nigeria, inclusive have solid waste management problems different from those found in
industrialized countries in areas of composition, density, political, and economic framework, waste
amount, access to waste for collection, awareness and attitude. The wastes are heavier, wetter and
more corrosive in developing cities than developed cities. In developing countries, local authorities
spend 77-95% of their revenue on collection and the balance on disposal, but can only collect almost
50-70% of municipal solid waste (MSW). In the past, the focus has been on the technical aspects of
different means of collection and disposal, but recently, attention has been on enhancing
institutional arrangement to service delivery, with a special emphasis on privatization.
Nigeria is presently experimenting with the privatization of this sector. The Federal Government has
instituted National Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management Intervention Programme in seven
cities of Nigeria. The seven cities are Maiduguri, Kano, Kaduna, Onitsha, Uyo, Ota, and Lagos. Lagos
state government established municipal solid waste management policy to encompass private sector
participation in waste collection and transfer to designated landfill sites.