By Chidi Matthew Nwachukwu

Aliyu Sadiq’s effort at ridding the Nigerian environment of plastic wastes may well be edging towards an auspicious denouement, since the young innovative entrepreneur has in the meantime, accomplished what he didn’t envisage was possible at the time he kick-started his pet project.

Sadiq, a 26 years old graduate of Geography and Environmental Management from the prestigious University of Abuja in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, is the founder of Ecocykle Development Foundation, an initiative that seeks to provide solutions to the problems of waste, climate change and environmental pollution.

Sadiq graduated in 2019 and founded Ecocykle in 2020. He founded the Ecocykle Foundation in a bid to contribute his quota to the curbing of environmental degradation in his immediate and extended environment. He thinks that plastic waste is a huge threat to the Nigerian ecosystem, and that its further spread could endanger the lives of humans and the country’s biodiversity.

A major scope of his operation is the collection of plastics from around the rural communities in which he is undertaking his project. He chose the rural communities for his project because they are more prone to plastic waste proliferation than the urban areas, since they do not have the means for proper waste disposal.

Karu local government area of Nasarawa State is the location where the project is being anchored, and it is the fastest-growing locality in the state. There are primary and secondary schools within the community, and it is in one of these schools that Sadiq is carrying out his project. The pet toilet project is supposed to provide comfort for pupils of the schools where it would be situated.

Sadiq intends to build at least 200 toilets for the community schools in 2 years’ time, and he intends for the project to spread to all nooks and crannies in Nigeria where lack of decent toilet facilities is a major glitch.

The most interesting part of Sadiq’s story is that he is simply using one problem to solve another equally disturbing problem. The spread of plastic waste in Karu, a densely-populated town in Nasarawa State, is one problem that has been described by environmentalists as “choking.” It is almost impossible to find settlements and communities in the town where there aren’t tons of plastic wastes. It was this huge production of plastic waste that inspired Sadiq to initiate a waste eradication system that will alternatively tackle another major problem – open defecation.

Open defecation is very widespread in Nigeria, and the successive governments of the country have had tough times tackling the menace. This problem is unfortunately rife in northern Nigeria, and even the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria which was once touted to be the fastest developing city in Africa, has now fallen to the scourge. Infiltration of the FCT by beggars and vagrants is the major cause of the geometric increase in open defecation. Under the bridges, along the express ways, inside the drainages and canals, and even open spaces could be seen littered with excrements. This anomalous trend has continued unabated, and is now threatening the normalcy of the ecosystem of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. Environmental experts have often wondered what the situation in the constituent states of Nigeria would be, given that even the FCT which is supposed to be a model of excellence cannot brag of a neater environment.

Aliyu’s projection is that in a very short time from now, his project would have taken care of open defecation in Nasarawa with the positive trend spilling over to the FCT and other states of the country that are gravely affected by open defecation.

Another attractive side to Aliyu’s project is that it also incorporates the production of interlocking bricks which are fabricated from plastics. This interesting innovation helps in no small measure to extract plastic waste from the environment. Aliyu engages hundreds of youths in the interlock production business, and they get trained and empowered through the project.

The pet toilet project was conceived by Aliyu when on one fateful morning, he saw a number of school pupils defecating in the bushes around their school. It then occurred to him to set up toilets for the school. While he wondered how to finance the project and effectively drive it to a logical conclusion, the thought of building toilets using plastic bricks flashed through his mind, and without wasting time, launched into the process of building the toilets. He considered the idea of building toilets with plastic bricks as very practicable and remedial since it would help in reducing the volume of plastic wastes in the environment. In constructing the pioneer toilet edifice, Aliyu used up 6,500 pet bottles. He believes that with such volumes of plastic removed from the environment through their reuse in the construction of bricks for the toilet, there will come a time when plastics would be totally absent from the environment.

He thinks that the Nigerian government can take a cue from its Rwandan and South African counterparts in ridding the country of plastics by banning the production of plastics and insisting on the use of eco-friendly materials such as wood, in the production of bag packs and other household items.

The construction of the toilets was carried out as a collaborative work of the pupils, some young members of the community where the school is located, women from the community, and Aliyu and his team members. The women went around the community to pick up the pet bottle, while the children happily filled them up with sand. The youths engaged in the construction and mason works under the supervision of Aliyu and his team, and before long, the project took shape. The women who gathered the pet bottles and the youths who took part in the mason work were duly rewarded for their efforts. Aliyu ensured that each of the women got at least 2,000 naira ($2.6) per day, and the masons daily got 2,500 ($3.2) naira each.

During the construction of the toilet, Aliyu and his team seized the opportunity to interact with the women, youths and children on the importance of waste management. He made them realize the gains of waste recycling, and opened their eyes to the advantages of waste monetization. The motive was to familiarize the young children with the fundamentals of waste management, and empower the women and youths with the knowledge and skills needed for waste monetization.

The toilets, according to Aliyu, were properly built and can stand the test of time. It was constructed with sufficient cement and concrete so that its surface cannot be washed away by water. The pupils of the school helped in digging the soak-away pits for the toilets, and it was from there that the sand needed for filling the bottles was obtained. Each of the toilets measures 6feet by 7feet, and has one stooling point. Since the construction of the toilets, the pupils now have where to ease themselves comfortably, and the young girls also have where to go, to take care of their hygiene needs when seeing their menses.

“I can’t express how satisfied I am, knowing that I have been able to solve a major problem for the pupils of my community,” disclosed Aliyu while speaking about the importance of his project.

The toilets are connected to a water source which enables them to be properly flushed after use. The school management dug a well that supplies the water, and overhead tanks were set in place to serve as water reservoir.

During the launching of the project, representatives of the Nasarawa State government and other stakeholders in the health and environment sectors were in attendance to register their satisfaction with the beautiful projects.

Aliyu disclosed that since launching his project, he had received calls from two other northern states to come and replicate his project in their communities. They want Aliyu to come to their aid as their own cases of open defecation were getting out of hand.

“I have received calls from Bauchi and Gombe states, asking for a replication of my project in their communities. They are prepared to sponsor the project on a large scale, and they are also willing to rid their environments of plastics and curb open defecation in their living space,” stated Aliyu.

Aliyu has as his sponsors as the Lift Humanity Foundation, the Global Recycling Foundation (an international donor agency), the African Environmental Awareness Initiative and the Step-Up Green Climate Warriors Initiative.

The toilets are expected to serve at least 400 to 500 pupils, and there are already plans to collect the wastes from the toilet for the production of methane cooking gas. This was disclosed by Aliyu when asked about his plans regarding the evacuation of the toilets.

The Ecocykle Development Foundation currently boasts of 20 regular staff and over 100 volunteers, and it is with efforts of these people that Aliyu runs his projects and pursue his goals.

He has stated that in the next two or three years, he would have spread his project to every nook and cranny of Nigeria.
His major challenge in the meantime is the lack of funds to undertake the various tasks he has cut out for himself. He disclosed that a single unit of the toilet cost about 800,000 naira ($1,778), and that his funds are not enough to take care of all the projects he holds in view.

Aliyu is very keen about climate change, and he thus attended the COP-27 climate change conference in Egypt last year. He talks very passionately about putting an end to the proliferation of plastic wastes in Africa, particularly Nigeria, and working towards preventing a further damage of our global ecosystem.

“The truth is, the climate is already irreversibly damaged, but whatever solutions we are proffering is for the earth not to become more damaged than it already is,” averred Aliyu when asked if the effort being made to curb climate change can be impactful in any way.
He further stated that Nigeria’s waste management score is generally very poor, even as the country’s population is overwhelmingly massive – a major reason why the country’s government is not making any headway to that end.

He further suggested that the adoption of a circular economic model which will ensure that more plastics are not produced and added to the already-existing ones, is key to managing the proliferation of plastic wastes in the Nigerian ecosystem. He suggested that the already-existing plastic wastes be recycled and energy and resources saved for more important projects.

Use any innovative method to stop the poo on the street of Abuja pls Agberos defecate anywhere they see and one can not take a walk on the street of Abuja the worst of all happens during the day when sun is blazing smell from all angles will make you hate Being there. Also special appeal to the FCT minister pls use this opportunity to stop agberos from intimidating and snatching cars from motorists in Abuja

Commendable Achievement.




Wittyness