An Analysis Of Political Problems On Landfill Tax In Nigeria

An Analysis Of Political Problems On Landfill Tax In Nigeria

Abstract

This research examines the problem eminent in the design of landfill taxes in the achievement of sustainable waste management in Lagos city. It has employed an empirical qualitative method. It first shows the mutual contribution of the achievement of waste management to the progress of sustainable sanitation and water resource management. Secondly, it displays the distributive and incentive roles of environmental taxes in the achievement of sustainable waste management. Thirdly, it indicates that a cautious design of the source, base, scope and rate of environmental taxes is a critical determinant for environmental taxes’ overall success in addressing the prevalent waste mismanagement in Nigeria. Fourthly, it demonstrates that in the : (1) The sources of solid waste collection, landfill, sewerage service and effluent charges are subject to the principle of legality; (2) the scope of solid waste collection, landfill, sewerage service and effluent charges is appropriate; (3) while the base of sewerage service and effluent charges is efficient, the base of solid waste and landfill charges is not at all efficient; and (4) while the rates of solid waste, landfill and sewerage service charges are slightly optimal, the rate of the effluent charge has not yet developed. Fifthly, it reveals that, having a somewhat viable design, solid waste, landfill and sewerage service charges are marginally reinforcing the aspiration of Nigeria to achieve sustainable sanitation. Sixthly, it uncovers that because Nigeria has not yet developed the rate of effluent charge, effluent charge is neither internalizing the cost of water resource degradation nor incentivizing sustainable water resource management. Finally, it implies that the aspiration of Nigeria to achieve sustainable sanitation and water resource management by 2030 is contingent on the cautious design of its waste management taxes.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Cities are at the nexus of a further threat to the environment, namely the production of an increasing quantity and complexity of wastes. The estimated quantity of City Solid Waste (MSW) generated worldwide is 1.7 – 1.9 billion metric tons.2 In many cases, city wastes are not well managed in developing countries, as cities and cityities cannot cope with the accelerated pace of waste production.

Waste collection rates are often lower than 70 per cent in low-income countries. More than 50 per cent of the collected waste is often disposed of through uncontrolled landfilling and about 15 per cent is processed through unsafe and informal recycling. Landfill Emissions. Traditional Landfills

City Solid Waste Management

As a Mayor, you may have to face challenging waste management decisions addressing issues that require immediate attention as well as potential issues that require strategic and integrated planning and implementation.
Establishing and improving facilities for collection, recycling, treatment and disposal for MSW management can be very costly. For example, building and operating sanitary landfills and incineration plants require huge investments and incur substantial operation and maintenance costs.

Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable locations for waste treatment facilities due to the prevalence of the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) attitude amongst communities. Landfill Tax

Meanwhile, if waste is growing at 3-5 per cent a year and rural-urban migration increases a city’s population at a similar rate, then a city’s waste generation will double every 10 years.4 Urban managers are therefore encouraged to pursue the paths of Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) and Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3Rs) that place highest priority on waste prevention, waste reduction, and waste recycling instead of just trying to cope with ever-increasing amounts of waste through treatment and disposal.

Landfill Tax Such efforts will help cities to reduce the financial burden on city authorities for waste management, as well as reduce the pressure on landfill requirements. We live in a world of increasing scarcity. Raw materials from natural resources are limited, financial resources are often insufficient, and securing land for final disposal is getting more difficult. Landfill Tax

Clearly, city authorities should set policy directions aiming for resource efficient, recycle-based society if they are to provide a clean, healthy and pleasant living environment to its citizens for current and future generations.
Although waste management responsibilities primarily lie with cities and cityities, many of the successful cases in waste management involve a wide range of stakeholders in their implementation, as can be seen in the case studies cited here.Landfill Tax This gives a clear message to cities and cityities that they should not try to do everything by themselves.

Rather, the key to success is to do what they are good at, and collaborate with other sectors in the society, such as private sector, communities and in some cases with the informal sector, in the interest of expanding waste management services and improving efficiency and effectiveness.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

Nigeria is committed to sustainable development and introducing incentives and disincentives to discourage practices that hamper the sustainable use of natural resources and the prevention of environmental degradation and pollution. Moreover, each of its urban administrations has the duty to ensure environmental tax-based sustainable waste management.

In addition, its law must provide a broad framework for both punitive and incentive measures, and where possible its tax structure has to be designed in a way that provides environmentally friendly positive incentives and negative incentives

Nigeria has given recognition to the PPP with its redistributive, preventive and incentive. Moreover, earlier research by this author shows that the variation of the distributive and incentive roles of environmental taxes is according to the functions of the PPP (Gebregiorgs, M. T. In addition, it has demonstrated the instrumental roles of solid waste, landfill, sewerage service and effluent charges in the realization of sustainable waste management.

Nevertheless, at the moment, Nigeria in general and Lagos in particular exposed to water resources degradation associated with effluent, and to the mismanagement of solid waste sludge, and sewage. Furthermore, the social cost of the waste management of public authorities in the Lagos Administration) is mainly covered through public subsidy.

1.3 Research Objectives

1. To study the various landfill charges administered in Lagos.
2. To study the level and problems of implementation of these charges.

1.4 Research Questions

1.3.1. Basic Research Question

How viable is the design of solid waste, landfill, sewerage service and effluent charges in the achievement of sustainable waste management in Nigeria?

1.3.2. Specific Research Questions

How viable is the design of the source, base, scope and rate of:

1. Solid waste and landfill charges in the achievement of sustainable solid waste management,
2. Sewerage service charges in the achievement of sustainable sewage service, and
3. Effluent charges in the achievement of the sustainable restoration of authorized water resources degradation in the of Nigeria?

1.5 Significance of Study

After a number of conferences held on the environment from Rio de Janeiro earth summit in 1992, which marked the beginning of persistent environmental campaigns across the world (UNCED, 1992), most of the countries put in place measures to reduce environmental problems. One of the measures was to implement the environmental awareness campaigns among their citizens (Strong, 1998). As the existence of environmental problems such as MSW is becoming more and more accepted, it is more and more important to measure and forecast environmental awareness.

The study findings therefore may add insight on the relevance of EE in MSWM. It also highlights ways of how EE can be used to facilitate proper management of MSW. This might help in providing information that is of practical value to policy makers and planners such as Nigeria environmental management agency (NEMA) which is beyond Lagos city council. The findings may also be of help to the local community as it may highlight the need for the local community to get involved in solid waste management and reduce the perennial outbreak of diseases such as cholera. The findings of the research might also contribute information to existing literature on proper ways of managing solid waste in developing countries like Nigeria through EE.

1.6 Delimitation

This study was restricted to selected residential areas and residents of Lagos Urban and the department responsible for waste collection or management at Lagos City (LAWMA). The study sampled its respondents from two residential (Island and the low cost) areas of Lagos.

1.7. Limitations of the Study

The study was limited to two selected residential areas of Lagos Township due to financial and time constraints. This implies that the findings of this study may not be generalized to the entire country.

1.8 Organization of the Dissertation

This dissertation is composed of five chapters.

Chapter one provides the background, statement of the problem and the objectives. It also outlines the aim or purpose of study, research questions, significance, delimitation and limitations of the study. Chapter two provides the theoretical framework used in the study and reviews the relevant literature in relation to the study and chapter three provides the methodology which was used in the study in terms of the research design, study area, population, sample, sampling procedure and instruments used to collect data among other things. Chapter four presents the findings of the research and the discussion of the findings. Conclusions and recommendations are given in chapter five

Chapter Five

Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Recommendations

Based on the findings the following are the recommendations:

1. Since there is no tax levied on residents, it is recommended that the council should engage community members to increase on tax officers in order to ensure effective communication, networking and monitoring with the residents.
2. Lagos city should facilitate community based innovative programmes rather than waiting to have capital intensive projects. This is based on the finding that CMC was not involved in any projects before other than the EU project (not yet operational) to bring about sanitation in the study area.
3. Provision of waste management services and waste bins are recommended. This recommendation was perceived by most respondents to be a major hindrance in portraying good environmental behaviour.

5.2 Conclusions

The research assesses the viability of the design of the source, base, scope and rate of solid waste, landfill, sewerage service, and effluent charges in the achievement of sustainable waste management in the of Nigeria. In this research, the source of environmental tax is subject to the principle of legality as long as it is set up by legislative acts; the scope of an environmental tax in a federal system is appropriate when it is as broad as the scope of the waste being addressed, and is consistent with the fiscal needs of the federal and regional waste management organs. The base of an environmental tax is considered to be efficient when it is targeted to the waste or waste-generating behavior, which helps to incentivize the full range of waste abatement options and can contribute to specification of an optimal tax rate. The rate of environmental tax is considered optimal when it is commensurate with the cost of waste management and it creates an incentive for the realization of sustainable waste management.

Correspondingly, this research has first indicated Nigeria’s commitment to a federal system, sustainable waste management, the polluter-pays principle and the distributive and incentive roles of environmental taxes. Secondly, it has shown that waste management is one the goals of sustainable development and it is applicable both in developed and least developed countries. Thirdly, it has displayed the mutual contribution of the achievement of waste management to the progress of sustainable sanitation and water resource management. Fourthly, it has shown the distributive and incentive roles of environmental taxes in the achievement of sustainable waste management. Fifthly, it has indicated that cautious design of the source, base, scope and rate of environmental taxes is a critical determinant for environmental taxes’ overall success in addressing the prevalent waste mismanagement in Nigeria.

This research, having the foregoing benchmark findings in its normative framework, has assessed the viability of the design of the source, base, scope and rate of solid waste, landfill, sewerage service and effluent charges in the practical achievement of sustainable waste management in the .

Consequently, it has demonstrated that:

1. The sources of solid waste, landfill, sewerage service and federal effluent charges are set up by legislative acts, and in turn their sources are subject to the principle of legality, and there is no ground for environmental taxation without representation;
2. The scope of solid waste, landfill, sewerage service and federal effluent charges is as broad as the scope of the waste being addressed, and it is consistent with the fiscal needs of the federal and the Lagos Administration waste management organs, and in turn their scope is appropriate;
3. Sludge and effluent are targeted as the bases of the sludge dislodging and federal effluent charges, respectively. Therefore, the sludge dislodging and federal effluent charges’ bases efficiently target the wastes, which helps to incentivize the full range of sludge and effluent abatement options and can contribute to specification of their optimal rate;
4. Water consumption, which is a close proxy of sewage, is targeted as the base of the sewer service charge. Thus, the base of the sewer service charge by and large efficiently targets the sewage-generating behavior, which helps to incentivize the full range of sewage abatement options and can contribute to specification of its optimal rate;
5. Water consumption is taken as the base of solid waste and landfill charges. Therefore, the base of solid waste and landfill charges does not at all efficiently target the waste or waste-generating behavior and thus does not help to incentivize the full range of solid waste abatement options, nor does it contribute to specification of their optimal rate;
6. The rates of solid waste, landfill and sewerage service charges make only a nominal contribution to the cost of solid waste and sewage management, and they barely create an incentive for the residents of the to sustainably manage their solid waste and sewage, and as such their rates are slightly optimal; and
7. Because Nigeria has not yet developed the rate of the federal effluent charge, the federal effluent charge neither internalizes the cost of trans-regional water resource degradation nor incentivizes the polluters to sustainably manage their effluent.

As a corollary, the study has concluded that, having a somewhat viable design, solid waste, landfill and sewerage service charges are marginally reinforcing the aspiration of Nigeria to achieve sustainable sanitation. Correspondingly, the results imply that the aspiration of Nigeria to achieve sustainable sanitation and water resource management by 2030 is contingent on the cautious design of its waste management taxes.

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