Do Laws Serve or Oppose Us?? Reinventing Environmental Sanitation Laws in Nigeria

Folakemi. O Ajagunna; Opeyemi.A. Gbadegesin

doi:10.25041/aelr.v4i2.2972

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25041/aelr.v4i2.2972

Abstract

Environmental sanitation refers to the management of the aspects related to the environment that might harm ones’ physical, cognitive, or social health. The provision of proper environmental sanitation is a foremost concern for the Nigerian government. Several laws have been enacted to achieve this goal. Despite the presence of the laws, compliance with environmental sanitation laws remains low in Nigeria. In one side, the laws protect the people, yet some people find compliance to the laws unnecessary. This descriptive and doctrinal research discusses the issue of environmental sanitation in Nigeria and examines the existing legal system for achieving a cleaner Nigeria. This paper posits that promoting hygiene in Nigeria is achievable and asserts that a bottom-up approach to environmental sanitation lawmaking in Nigeria is required to achieve this goal. A participatory community module for sanitation lawmaking needs to be developed to gain awareness among the community regarding the urgency of the laws and to motivate every citizen in making personal actions instead of merely depending on the government to achieve the goal.

Keywords:

Environmental Sanitation, Public Perception of Laws, Compliance, Community-led Sanitation, Nigeria

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