By Awaal Gata
In FCT’s satellite towns, apart from lack of infrastructure which residents are contending with, ways of disposing wastes is another problem.
Because of the problem, they now dump refuse on undeveloped lands, uncompleted building and by the roadsides.
Blueprint learnt that owners of the uncompleted buildings and undeveloped plots are not usually at home with their properties being turned into dump sites, hence adopt tactics to stop it.
“Despite the fact that I employed some guys to stop people from dumping refuse into my uncompleted building, in the morning I wake up to see wastes in the building; that means they do it at night, when the guys I employed have gone home,” Mr. Yinka Fidelis, a resident of Kubwa, lamented.
Fidelis believes that “It is not that residents want to dispose their refuse anyhow, but the government has no provided any way for them. The situation, which is very very unfortunate, is the same in all the satellite towns.”
Asked how his family disposes its wastes, Fidelis said: “I don’t allow my family to dispose our wastes on anybody’s property; we pay some Hausa boys to dispose them.”
The yan bola, as the wheel-barrow pushing Hausa boys are popularly called, probably dump wastes from Fidelis’ household on another person’s land or uncompleted building, like people do on his own.
The situation, however, is still in some level of sanity in Kubwa, as heaps of wastes are not adorning the town like they do in areas like Mararaba, Zuba, Nyanya, Gwagwalada and others.
In Zuba, Mararaba and Nyanya, because the areas rarely have undeveloped lands or uncompleted buildings, the residents dump wastes on the roadsides or any open space left between homes, leaving strong smell in the air. However, in Gwagwalada, a section of the town’s central market is rapidly becoming the central dump site and the Abubakar Jibril Giri-led administration of the area council has not taken any action.
“No where to dump refuse in Zuba, so I dump mine any space I see at night,” a lady, who pleaded for anonymity, told our correspondent at the weekend.
“In Zuba, everywhere is built. You cannot dump your waste anywhere. So you dump it at your neighbours’ frontage at night,” she added.
However, according to her, a little respite comes in the rainy seasons: “In the rainy seasons, our sufferness reduces because we take advantage of the rain to dump the wastes on the waterways so that the rain will transport the away. That is what everybody does in this town.”
When she was asked whether that would not block the waterways or heap the wastes at an unwanted place, she said: “Who cares? All that people care about is seeing that the wastes leave their houses. It is not only in Zuba that this is happening, but everywhere.”
The town is usually lodged in water after heavy rainfalls, restricting the movements of people and vehicles. The situation can partly be attributed to the way the residents dispose wastes.
Commenting on the issue, Dr. Mustapha Umar Danladi, an Environmentalist, said the satellite towns are at the risk of being attacked by flood, epidemic and loss of soil quality if the situation is not quickly addressed.
According to him, the Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA) should provide ways of refuse disposal at the satellite towns like the
Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) is doing in the city centre.
“The way people dispose refuse in the satellite towns is nothing to write home about. I don’t blame them; I blame the government because it is the government that is not regulating it. Places like Zuba, Kubwa and others, where do you want people to dump wastes with the towns already occupied with building? The government should just simply take the way it is doing it in the city centre to the satellite towns.
“If the situation is not addressed as soon as possible, it could cause flood because waterways are being blocked; it could cause epidemic because the smell the wastes emits is hazardous to human health; and the quality of the soil would keep dying,” Dr. Danladi stated.
He, however, advised the residents to incinerate their wastes, instead of waiting for the governments.
“It is their safety and health that is questioned here. So, I will want them to do anything that is possible to stop dumping refusing anyhow; they should rather incinerate them instead of waiting for the government to bring an alternative.”