By Fatima Auwal Adam Sani
For many Nigerians, living in an environmentally friendly way is not always a choice. It is often shaped by the challenges we face every day. In many cities and towns, problems like too much rubbish, dirty air, flooding, and a lack of basic services affect how people live and the decisions they make.
Nigeria produces about 32 million tonnes of rubbish every year. Sadly, less than one-third of this waste is properly collected and managed. As a result, rubbish piles up on streets, blocks drains, and causes flooding during the rainy season.
A large part of this waste is plastic. About 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced each year, but only a small amount is recycled. Most plastic ends up in open dumps or is burned, which releases harmful smoke and pollutes the land and water.
These problems are not only found in Nigeria. Many countries around the world are struggling with waste as populations grow and people use more things.
Because waste collection and recycling systems are often weak, many Nigerians have little choice but to live with these conditions. For example, people may breathe in smoke from burning rubbish, use water sachets that quickly become litter, or see blocked drains as a normal part of the rainy season.
These habits are not always about choosing to protect the environment. They are often ways people cope with the situation around them.
When services like rubbish collection, clean water, and steady electricity are not reliable, actions that look like “sustainable living” may really be about getting by each day.
This raises an important question for young readers to think about: are we choosing to live in ways that help the environment, or are we living this way because there are no better options?
Fatima Auwal Adam Sani is a student of Nigerian Tulip International Colleges