At this present moment, there are two major causes of pollution in my immediate environment. They are noise and solid waste. On a scale of 1 to 10 from bad to worst, both pollution sources rate a solid 9 on the horrific scale.
Solid waste management is a problem in Africa. It's a problem so enormous that we now see it as normal. And when abnormality is treated as a regular thing, catastrophe is on the way. As I'm typing this, I can't remember the last time a waste management truck came around to cart away our waste. If I were to place a timescale on it, it's been 3 years and 8 months since I last disposed of refuse in a right, environmentally acceptable way. Honestly, I'm feeling bad right now because I should be an advocate of a clean environment, not the other way around.
The first time I understood how terrible solid waste can threaten lives was when I traveled down to Lagos for an exam in 2022. On getting to Ojota, I lodged at a hotel not too far from the motor park because my destination was Yaba. At that hotel, I saw what I had heard but never experienced before. After settling down in the room, I decided to take a shower only to get the shock of my life.
As I turned on the shower, the water sprinkling out of it was brick red and had a pungent smell like that of ammonia. I was completely stunned and I ran out of the bathroom. I got dressed and stormed towards the receptionist to give her a piece of my mind. After narrating my ordeal, she gave a wry smile, apologized, and boldly said that was how the water in that environment was. It was stunning. Simply stunning.
On getting back to the room, I checked for potential heavy metal pollutants in that area. That was when I realized the largest landfill site in Lagos, Olusosun, was cited in that city. Heavy metals in solid and chemical waste refuse dumped on the site have found their way to the city's water table and contaminated the water source. It was a horrible experience for me.
The mess of a landfill site close to my place of habitation is yet to get to the level of polluting the water table in the environment. However, it's a horrible site to behold. Negligence of duty and commissioning of white elephant projects by government officials has turned a large proportion of land that was earmarked to build a new stadium into a stinky landfill site. I can't help but pity those whose houses are close to the landfill.
Despite the landfill site attracting detractors and criminals alike, its negative impact for now pales in comparison to what the people living in my neighborhood are facing on Friday nights. At exactly 11 pm on Fridays, a live band plays from a nearby hotel till the early hours of Saturday, making an incredible amount of noise that wakes most people up. As it is now, it's common knowledge in the neighborhood that every Friday night will be noisy and uncomfortable.
When I first experienced this, I nearly went berserk. I stormed the Ministry of Education's website to find a way to report these dudes. I've read on several occasions how religious centers and nightclubs in Lagos were sealed off because they disturbed public peace. I was hoping something of such a nature would also apply here.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. I've sent several messages to their official email address to report the noisy hotel folks but have not gotten a singular response or acknowledgment back. The government in these parts doesn't care if a hotel is causing a nuisance to the public.
With the way things are right now, I don't see anything stopping those hotel people from continuing their free assault on our space by continuing to belt out noise pollution in the name of music on Friday nights. Likewise, the landfill site in my neighborhood is not even an official landfill site. Yet it's grown so big and untended to the point it now affects traffic in the area.
I can only hope that the authorities will do something to help out of these pollution predicaments we're experiencing. However, hope is a waste of time here. It's just a fancy word used to keep the impoverished from challenging the powers that be.
