Hazardous wastes control in Nigeria: A legal analysis

Abstract

Wastes, whether in solid or any form, are generated by the activities of man. Hazardous wastes, as the name applies, are not only inimical to human health but to the ecosystem and the entire human environment because of its pollutant nature. The unchecked activities of man has severally led to the degradation of human environment at all levels of human activities both domestic, industrial, etc, hence the need to fashion out regulatory regime to check and police the human activities occasioning the discharge of hazardous wastes into the environment. This work therefore examines the control and management of hazardous wastes in Nigeria through legal instruments in order to know whether Nigeria has actually had sufficient legal vigour to combat the menace of hazardous wastes. This work considers, of course, not all legal instruments on hazardous wastes in Nigeria but some of the laws and international conventions on the control of hazardous wastes particularly as it affects Africa. This work x-rays major sources of hazardous waste in Nigeria. This work furthermore, spotlights, inter alia, the collection of hazardous wastes; the treatment of hazardous wastes, and the disposal of hazardous wastes in Nigeria via legal instrumentalities. It lings on Federal and not State’s legal instruments.