Solid waste management during Covid-19 pandemic: policy gaps and prospects for inclusive waste governance in Nigeria

Solid waste management (SWM) is a public health service whose importance is often understated. When the solid waste management challenge is exacerbated by a public health emergency such as the Covid-19 pandemic, its real significance as an essential service becomes more apparent. The outbreak and spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has led to dramatic transformations of every sector of the Nigerian society including SWM systems, where formal and informal actors co-exist often in an uneasy relationship. Unfortunately, strategies for inclusive management of solid wastes during and after the Covid-19 pandemic are lacking in Nigeria, fuelling the further exclusion of informal sector in the waste governance and policy process in Nigeria. This paper reviews the state of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria, identifies policy gaps in solid waste governance and highlights the linkages between Covid-19 and SWM with a view to catalysing inclusive solid waste governance and sustainability policy in Nigeria. It is argued that acknowledging the informal economy is the critical first step towards framing a sustainable SWM policy in which primary stakeholders are involved.