Kano’s journey towards environmental sustainability

BY ABDULKADIR HAUSAWA
We commute daily to our various places of work and for business activities, with the utmost concern of not being late to the office or appointments. In the same manner, we rush back to our homes for rest after attending to all the necessities and agenda for the day.

With the above routine mentality at the back of our minds, one hardly has the time to observe the environment to cherish its beauty and transformation.

There’s a need for government commendation on the masses-related projects and urbanisation of the city roads in the metropolis over the years, which has placed huge progress on today’s architects in building not only comfortable and attractive city but also environment and human-friendly.

The fact that so much progress has been made across the capital on infrastructural development, which has put the ancient city in a new spotlight, it becomes our collective duty to be prudent in making sure that these projects are not only properly maintained but to equally augment their environmental nature to create a modern and sustainable city.

The importance of a healthy environment within any given society cannot be over-emphasised. This is so because the environment remains an integral aspect of all human activities and therefore needs to be given the due priority that it deserves. I am a pathfinder in this regard as it’s important to highlight and bring to the forefront the challenges that we are facing and the need to address them to make a real difference in our immensely condensed commercial city of Kano.

It is quite observed that most urban cities in Nigeria are faced with environmental and waste management challenges as a result of the population boom, amongst others, which are however not insurmountable tasks to address when properly handled. More visible in the northern part of the country that faces such challenges is Kano city which is home to over 4.5 million people and a potential economy commerce city that must be met with adequate environmental wherewithal.

My concern on the subject matter isn’t a sudden observation, as I have been part and parcel of a sustainable city and community under the auspice of the British Council and World Bank project, which resulted in the evacuation of a stretch of refuse that blocked a major road in the metropolis for over a quarter of a century. It is pensive that over a decade of the above effort, the aim of the project is yet to be fully achieved.

Kano state at present is experiencing an unfriendly waste management system which creates a source of pollution that is affecting the environment, population health, and sustainable development. This call for concern and a very serious challenge that at this material time, is becoming a public nuisance. An example of these environmental challenges is found along Ibrahim Taiwo by Beirut Road, Galadima Road, Ibo Road, Madina Road, and many other refuse collection outlets too numerous to mention, as a result of improper management and rapid increase in waste generation. These facts are undeniable. This happening perfectly demonstrates the lapses or inability of the agency saddled with the responsibility of maintaining waste collection to cover the entire city and deliver the needed result effectively. One way to tackle this is to elongate the number of hours for the key staff or increase the workforce in the field.

In addition, serious business like refuse collection shouldn’t be left for several days before evacuation. When this happens, it brings about a negative impact to the environment that includes air pollution, odour, littering, noise, and dust, etc.

The government on its part needs to thoroughly investigate the attitude of the agency’s workforce and other impediments that are associated with environmental cleanliness which most times emanate from a lack of sense of belonging in an organisation due to the absence of proper coordination, supervision and adequate communication.

To effect a positive change in this direction, the government must be ready to build a better strategy to handle environmental challenges by taking a leading role in the city’s cleanliness which is vital in order to address the several issues that we face across the capital.

No matter how good government’s intentions are, as far as they remain hesitant to use thought-provoking measures and regulations to get the people to be environmentally conscious, many will assume that the government is only and truly paying lip service to the serious issue of waste management and environmental sustainability, which is hazardous to our general health and well-being. There has to be a sort of political will to make the people aware of all associated unsustainable practices.

In this regard, a sustainable development strategy action-plan is highly needed to develop a fundamental consensus of binding values and personal attitude of irrevocable standard in our system. Without such a fundamental consensus on our ethics and values, our collective journey towards achieving the yardstick of the United Nations declaration will not be realised.

The fact is that people are found with the habit of usually shifting the blame on government even on trivial issues and more so on significant matters that deal with waste management system in our environment, forgetting that government does not produce this dirt and knowing quite well that this refuse doesn’t appear by itself on our roads. We must find ways to encourage people to do the needful and equally in our little corners maintain a stoic opposition to disposing refuse at inappropriate and illegal dumpsites. This is so because the enabling platform for a sustainable environment is an effort that requires a collaborative approach from both the leaders and the led.

Until people change their behaviour, until we stop littering the streets and until we stop breaking the law, our outcry to mitigate the impact of an inhospitable environment and by extension climate change will remain a constant challenge.

What the government has been able to achieve in adherence to the universal pledge to leave no one behind is a testament and can do much more in the environment sector by transforming how the capital manages its waste and ensure to close the gap within the period left to create a springboard of delivering a 21st-century sustainable city.

An aggressive enlightenment campaign is therefore needed towards environmental and solid waste management knowledge in order to change the peoples’ nonchalant attitude of leaving the environment unkept. As earlier mentioned, there is a need for a change in the moral and social values of society. The epitome of sincerity, loyalty, patriotism, selflessness, and disciple needs to be inculcated in the people to ameliorate our behaviour of being lackadaisical to environmental sustainability.

Without a doubt, this administration is walking along the path of the global community by providing actionable platforms to awaken a universal sense of responsibility in various areas. Nevertheless, the possibility for the state to achieve the SDGs on sustainable environment targets by 2030 remains very low, unless the government redoubles its effort to apply deep-rooted values and social norms with a strong political will and serious commitment.

Hausawa DKF is an advocate for sustainable cities/communities. He can be reached via [email protected]