Word Count: 1,500 (excluding references)

PARTICIPATORY WASTE GOVERNANCE IN SLUM COMMUNITIES OF

METROPOLITAN IBADAN AND LAGOS, SOUTHWEST NIGERIA, 2015-2019

Background and Problem Statement

Contemporary African studies suggest that African cities are the nerve points of socioeconomic
and political life in Africa and are now at the centre of most governance initiatives on
environmental aesthetics, public health and sustainable development in developing countries 1.
One supposes that these cities are increasingly finding themselves at local and global crossroads
within the milieu of policy and spatial transformations which are brought about mostly by the
importation and interaction of several ideas, ideals and practices of governance, often serviced
through a vast network of multiple social, economic and political agents found within the city.
The effects of this local-global interconnectedness cannot be lost on Africans themselves who
are the very players and products of the structural transformations of the cities which they live,
however, these effects are mostly felt by vulnerable groups in the city, especially women who
usually constitute the economically subjugated mass but are fast becoming the very embodiments
of urban life in Africa2.

In recent times, African cities have been touted as instruments of social inclusion in Africa 3. This
means that all who happen to be in a city should have the right to be treated equally, and should
contribute modestly to how they are governed, at least within the public sphere. It is also
assumed that through neo-liberal urban governance models, African cities can become a more
inclusive, convivial and safer place for their citizens, which as a consequence, will reinforce
social order and cooperation to prevent insecurity and inter-group violence 4. As identities interact
continuously within African cities, new forms of values are imbibed and a new subjective order
1
Nawrot, K., Juma, C. and Donald, J. (2017) African Cities as Emerging Innovative Ecosystems. Faculty
Research Working paper Series. John F. Kennedy School of Government .
2
Akanle, O., Adesina, J. O., & U.R. Nwaobiala (2016). Turbulent but I must endure in silence: Female
breadwinners and survival in Southwestern Nigeria. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 53(1), 98–
114. doi:10.1177/0021909616658913
3
Lawanson, T., Odekunle, D. & I. Albert (2020) Urban Redevelopment and the Right to the City in
Lagos, Nigeria. In: Albert, I.O. & T. Lawanson (2020) Urban Crises and Management in Africa. Austin:
Pan-African University Press
4
Wahab, B. & M.K.C. Sridhar(2014) Solid Waste Collection and Management Practices among
Community Residents in Ibadan. Scottish Journal of Arts, Social Sciences and Scientific Studies. Vol.
21(1):55-68.

1
Word Count: 1,500 (excluding references)

begins to emerge in all spheres. These new identities have begun to permeate the very core of
governance structures and values, and are dictating the nature and substance of governance in
African cities. Yet, there are yet genuine concerns about the low levels of development,
insecurity and diminished quality of life often experienced by majority of cityzens (city-dwellers)
in Africa. Nigerian cities are no exception as they are often characterized by overcrowding,
crime, poor infrastructure, and the ‘monster’ of all urban governance problems - waste 5. Perhaps,
what is most troubling is that the processes of regulation and management of waste in
industrialized and densely populated cities like Ibadan and Lagos, often ignore the rights of those
living at the spatial and socio-economic margins of the city - slums 6. The imminent consequence
of this systemic exclusion from the normative order and policy arena is the re/production of a
subtle culture of indifference to the state and its environmental values. This is characterized, for
instance, by environmental apathy of cityzens, such as open and indiscriminate disposing of
wastes in spite of stipulated environmental edicts or laws, and other similar environmental
delinquent behaviors, say by illegal waste operators 7. However, and quite interestingly too, there
are recognizable cases of self-organisation and self-help in waste management among local
communities or neighbourhoods in some Nigerian cities 8, which smacks of self-governance and
social capital among urban commons in Africa. It therefore proves useful to interrogate, albeit
historically and comparatively, the nature and implications of self-organizing practices of waste
governance that are produced in and around slum communities in Nigeria, so as to build up a
critical mass of knowledge on how to develop local solutions to waste management and waste-
induced conflicts at the grassroots, without which the polity may implode. It will also be
interesting to see how such community self-help initiatives may have been initiated and/or

5
Onibokun, A.G. & A.J. Kumuyi (1999) Governance and Waste Management in Africa. In: Onibokun,
A.G. (ed.) Managing the Monster: Urban Waste and Governance in Africa. In: Onibokun, A.G. (ed.)
Managing the Monster: Urban Waste and Governance in Africa. Ottawa: International Development
Research Centre.
6
Fourchard, L. (2003) Urban Slums Report: The Case of Ibadan. IFRA, University of Nigeria;
Huchzermeyer, M. (2011) Cities with ‘Slums’: From Informal Settlement Eradication to a Right to the
City in Africa. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.
7
Adeyemi, M & R. Agboluaje (2019) Ibadan in the throes of refuse heaps. The Guardian, Friday, April
26. p. 10
8
Wahab, S. (2012) The Role of Social Capital in Community-Based Urban Solid Waste - Case Studies
from Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria. Thesis submitted to the University of Waterloo.

2
Word Count: 1,500 (excluding references)

mediated by women, whose contributions to urban political life are often blurred or
underappreciated9.

This study, therefore, proposes to engage both historical and ethnographic evidences that show
how communities in metropolitan Ibadan and Lagos may have transformed into social innovation
hubs, catalyzed by socioeconomic and political exchanges under a neoliberal urban governance
model that operated during the 2015-2019 administration in both states, and on the basis of this
assumption, examine the nature and implications of the emerging political order and normative
subjectivities that are produced in the ever-intensifying relations between cityzens and the
Nigerian state, within the operational framework of waste governance.

Research Questions

Drawing from the pioneering work of African urban scholars, the proposed thesis addresses itself
to the following research questions:

1) In what ways are the rights to the city, to popular participation, and expression of grievances
by slum community residents constituted and re/shaped, in relation to waste governance in
Metropolitan Ibadan and Lagos between 2015 and 2019?

2) How are the roles of women living in slums communities of Metropolitan Ibadan and Lagos
between 2015 and 2019 interpreted, amplified and mediated through waste governance
practices?; and, not least,

3) What comparative lessons can state governments and municipal authorities in Southwest
Nigeria learn from ‘informal’ waste governance practices in slum communities of Metropolitan
Ibadan and Lagos for effectively decentralising municipal waste policy frameworks?

Research Methodology

The research adopts both comparative and participatory action designs to review the activities of
community-based waste governance in slum communities of Ibadan and Lagos. Based on the
systems approach of defining waste governance espoused by Sridhar and Wahab (2014) 10,

9
Beall, J. (1996) Urban Governance: Why Gender Matters. www.sdnp.undp.org
10
Wahab, B. & M.K.C. Sridhar(2014) Solid Waste Collection and Management Practices among
Community Residents in Ibadan. Scottish Journal of Arts, Social Sciences and Scientific Studies. Vol.

3
Word Count: 1,500 (excluding references)

iterative desktop study and archival searching will be used to collect secondary information on
the identified indicators of waste governance for the period under review. Primary data will be
collected through personal observations and focused-group discussions with officials of Ibadan
Waste Management Authority (IWMA) and Lagos State Waste Management Authority
(LASEMA), community leaders, households, community-based development associations,
environmental NGOs and subjected to thematic analysis using computer-assisted qualitative
analysis software (MAXQDA). Stakeholder analysis method will be employed in the assessment
of the research findings.

Research Significance and Expected Findings

As a contribution to knowledge, the study promises to advance the debate in political

development literature on the primacy and agency of urban slums as sites of sustainable waste
solutions to municipal waste crisis, as local ‘archives’ for reading power contestations in
postcolonial Africa11. The study will also uncover interesting facts about how women living in
slum areas embody the political aspirations and ingenuity of marginalized groups in Nigeria.

Among other implications of my findings, I expect that the study will significantly contribute to
our understanding of the nexus between processes of decentralized environmental governance
and sustainable development at the community level in African cities, more specifically, to
understand how communal spaces in Southwest Nigeria are fragmented and ordered for waste
governance at the grassroots, and determine the utility and complementarities of such governable
spaces for formal statehood practices.

Project Outputs and Research Timeline

No. Stage Outputs Location Input Target Date

21(1):55-68.
11
Klopp, J.M. & J.W. Paller (2019) Slum Politics in Africa. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Politics.
DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.985

4
Word Count: 1,500 (excluding references)

Days
1 Pre-field Detailed Project Plan, with Ibadan 1 month 31 April 2021
methodology (including FGD
guide) and reconnaissance visit to
map study sites.
2 Field Conclusion of Desk Review; Field Ibadan & Lagos 8 months 31 December
Work 2021
3 Post-Field Writing of Draft Report Ibadan 5 months 30 June 2021
4. Post-Field Stakeholder engagement Ibadan & Lagos 2 months 31 August 2021
4 Post-Field Final Report, comprised of Ibadan 2 months 31 October 2021
overview account of study, key
findings and analysis, conclusion
and lessons

References

Adeyemi, M & R. Agboluaje (2019) Ibadan in the throes of refuse heaps. The Guardian, Friday,
April 26. p. 10

5
Word Count: 1,500 (excluding references)

Akanle, O., Adesina, J. O., & U.R. Nwaobiala (2016). Turbulent but I must endure in silence:
Female breadwinners and survival in Southwestern Nigeria. Journal of Asian and African
Studies, 53(1), 98–114. doi:10.1177/0021909616658913

Beall, J. (1996) Urban Governance: Why Gender Matters. www.sdnp.undp.org

Fourchard, L. (2003) Urban Slums Report: The Case of Ibadan. IFRA, University of Nigeria;
Huchzermeyer, M. (2011) Cities with ‘Slums’: From Informal Settlement Eradication to
a Right to the City in Africa. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.

Klopp, J.M. & J.W. Paller (2019) Slum Politics in Africa. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of
Politics. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.985

Lawanson, T., Odekunle, D. & I. Albert (2020) Urban Redevelopment and the Right to the City
in Lagos, Nigeria. In: Albert, I.O. & T. Lawanson (2020) Urban Crises and Management
in Africa. Austin: Pan-African University Press

Nawrot, K., Juma, C. and Donald, J. (2017) African Cities as Emerging Innovative Ecosystems.
Faculty Research Working paper Series. John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Onibokun, A.G. & A.J. Kumuyi (1999) Governance and Waste Management in Africa. In:
Onibokun, A.G. (ed.) Managing the Monster: Urban Waste and Governance in Africa. In:
Onibokun, A.G. (ed.) Managing the Monster: Urban Waste and Governance in Africa.
Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.

Wahab, B. & M.K.C. Sridhar(2014) Solid Waste Collection and Management Practices among
Community Residents in Ibadan. Scottish Journal of Arts, Social Sciences and Scientific
Studies. Vol. 21(1):55-68.

Wahab, S. (2012) The Role of Social Capital in Community-Based Urban Solid Waste - Case
Studies from Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria. Thesis submitted to the University of Waterloo.