It isn't so hard to tell the difference between a country largely unmindful of the manner in which its people dispose their wastes hence do absolutely next to nothing to improve on waste disposal on the one hand, the one, which as a result of its understanding of the strings of effects  of improper waste disposal, is struggling through various environmental policies and institutional regulations to combat the attitude of improper waste disposal and is gradually shifting towards global best practices, and third, a country which has fully developed its waste disposal strategies in a way that allows for the proper disposal of waste by its people , timeously collected by established agencies and effectively managed and recycled into new and quite useful products, on the other hand.

From the above introductory framework and a rather objective personal assessment, Nigeria falls within the second category. In this part of the world, there is now a better understanding of the unpalatable consequences of improper waste disposal as against what used to obtain in the past. A decade ago or more, it wasn't so hard to come across several heaps of refuse mindlessly dumped in virtually every nook and cranny of the country with the inclusion of even the urban parts of Nigeria. This is not to suggest that this is no more occurring, but the rate of such occurrence is significantly reducing.

At the time, eco-literacy had not so much been a major concern of stakeholders as issues such as poverty, unemployment and social insecurity were the major issues being 'squarely' tackled by the governments and corporate organizations, so to speak. This was despite the fact that Nigeria had  drafted and indeed promulgated a handful of environmental laws and policies some of which were aimed at reducing the rate at which waste generated were disposed as well as establishing a few institutions to monitor and enforce citizens? compliance with the promulgated laws and policies.

Unfortunately however, the promulgation of those laws did not in fact,  yield so much as the country could not fully implement most of the laws, regulations and or policies. This was  largely due to factors such as institutional incompetence and inadequacies in the form of embezzlement of funds generated and allocated for the purpose, citizens' utter disregard for penal measures as they could easily bribe environmental sanitation officers in order to avoid being arrested and prosecuted for improper disposal of wastes, and so on and so forth.

Therefore, what we had at best  was the mere existence of a will to change but without the necessary and concrete determination and active efforts to see the change manifest.

But as it would appear, the global clamour which attended the final part of the last decade and the series of 'diplomatic' pressures on the government of the country by international environmental bodies and indeed  indigenous individuals and organizations to lead by setting example in the form  of addressing her waste disposal options and perhaps also a genuine realization of the need for more concerted efforts  on the part of government and other stakeholders , have led to a gradual shift and a higher concentration of focus  of stakeholders on waste disposal.

As a result of the series of waste management campaigns embarked upon by the government and private set ups, more Nigerians are now fully developing and fast becoming used to the attitude of participating in the nationwide environmental sanitation as against our past attitude. Trespassers of waste management laws are being prosecuted and made to serve as deterrent to  others who may be yet to cooperate with the government on efforts to reduce improper waste disposal.

But much as these are commendable, I believe that there is actually an abundance of opportunities for the  country to ascend beyond the realm of just ensuring the proper disposal of wastes generated to that of managing –say recycling – the series of wastes generated from the various States and communities  for the general development of the country.

Therefore, the future of Nigeria of my dreams is one where every household is totally keyed into proper waste disposal, where every community –rural or urban –has well monitored waste collection centres, a nation where industrial reproduction of used materials will serve the purposes of employment, generation of internal revenue, attraction of investors and a country which is environmentally safe for the dreams and aspirations of her people.