August 2024 Institutional support for precarious livelihoods in the Lagos urban sanitation sector Taibat Lawanson, Basirat Oyalowo and Anthony Akpan
Dislodgement plant workers and their trucks at Lekki, Lagos
The second blog in the series draws from the 'Hidden World of Lagos Sanitation Workers' report to shed light on the institutional challenges faced by sanitation workers in Lagos. Despite their vital role in urban hygiene, these workers experience precarious working conditions and lack sufficient institutional support. The blog emphasizes the need for stronger frameworks, better protection, and recognition of their contributions. It also discusses efforts to organize workers, improve their livelihoods, and integrate them into formal support systems, highlighting the importance of addressing these issues to achieve SDG 6 (Sanitation for All) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
The importance of sanitation to human health and wellbeing is often under acknowledged, despite that fact that sanitation delivers health as well as extensive economic, social and environmental benefits. An important component of the urban sanitation system is the workforce. Sanitation workers are relatively unrecognized in spite of their role as indispensable actors in municipal waste (and wastewater) management, supporting safety and well-being in cities. Furthermore, they are often categorized as informal workers and so lack the social and economic opportunities required for a decent life. Suffice to say, this directly threatens the actualization of the SDGs, especially SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 8 (Decent Work)
Minimal recognition has been accorded to sanitation work and workers in both research and policy circles in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city that generates an estimated 1.6 billion litres of wastewater daily. Therefore, our study, sought to understand the institutional frameworks guiding sustainable fecal waste management in Lagos, taking into consideration issues that pertain to regulation, oversight and support for urban sanitation workers.
Institutional Framework for Urban Sanitation in Lagos
The Lagos state government promulgated the 2017 Harmonized Environmental Law with copious provisions for wastewater management (Part IX). This law also established the Lagos State Wastewater management office (LASWAMO) as the anchor agency responsible for the safe collection and disposal of fecal sludge. However, our study finds that there is weak bureaucratic structure to support effective wastewater management in the state, with jurisdictional tensions often occurring between LASWAMO, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, the state’s environmental protection agency and the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission. This is further complicated by actors in the local government system, who are constitutionally to manage public toilets and sewage.
There are very few functional wastewater treatment plants in Lagos, hence sewerage system generally consists of privately managed septic tanks, sewers, and canals. The wastewater from homes empties into the septic tank, the sludge settles while the wastewater leaves the tank and drains into the soil. When the septic tank fills up, the sludge is dislodged and taken from homes to septage discharge points by private sector operators. There are seven discharge points (modular septage pre-treatment plants) operated by the Lagos State Waste Management Office (LSWMO), which is grossly insufficient for a city of Lagos’ magnitude. Furthermore, these government operated plants are quite rustic and offer only preliminary wastewater treatment.
LASWAMO oversees the activities of dislodgement trucks and wastewater treatment plants, focusing mostly on setting standards for equipment and hard infrastructure, and engaging with entrepreneurs within the sector, including dislodgement truck operators, public toilet workers and plant operators. However, the social and economic rights of waste sector workers are neglected. In fact, we find minimal evidence of any institutional oversight functions across the state beyond collecting dues and levies.
According to a septage truck owner:
‘We are always paying levies, if not to the state, to the local government. When we complain, the state government intervenes, but we just pay so as to avoid delays on the road’.
A toilet operator stated that:
‘Government people come for inspection sometimes. They don’t train anybody. It is only to collect money that they know’.
Sanitation work is precarious
Lagos sanitation workers have precarious livelihoods and really poor opportunities for social and economic mobility (See part 1 of this blog). They also have limited job security, social security or health protection, and are exposed to occupational hazards and health risks as they often work without Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The dislodgement plant operators sometimes have to manually remove waste items blocking the sewage pipes, while the toilet operators are also harassed, sometimes violently, by local street gang members (area boys) who insist of using the facilities without paying.
The jobs are also quite precarious as they are all temporary workers, with none of them connected to any workers union, pension funds, or registered for health insurance. Across the various job categories, there were many cases of serious ill-health ranging from hepatitis to alcohol/ drug abuse and diarrheal diseases.
Supporting decent work in the Lagos Urban Sanitation system
Given the precarity of their livelihoods, and the important role that they play in ensuring a safe and healthy society, urban sanitation workers deserve to be supported better.
One way to achieve this is by mobilizing workers to advocate for better working conditions, and compelling institutional authorities to protect the social and economic rights of these essential workers. Through our study, we were able to connect the toilet operators to the Federation of Informal Workers Organisation of Nigeria (FIWON). FIWON has commenced the process of organizing them into groups, so that they can immediately access health insurance and timely information regarding opportunities available to informal workers. Through this convening, the public toilet operators have formed a savings group. With time, we are hopeful that it will develop into an active cooperative society, which has been proven to be the most stable social and economic support structure for informal workers.
It is also important that sanitation workers are connected to formal processes of support and engagement. On the one hand, those working with the government must transit from the precarity of casual labour to permanent positions with pensions and other benefits of public service. On the other hand, those in informal work should be empowered to access benefits that enhance their livelihoods and dignity.
Effective recognition must be given to all urban sanitation workers through a targeted campaign of public awareness and appreciation of the critical if unseen role they play in keeping our cities healthy. Furthermore, the bureaucratic bottlenecks in the urban sanitation value chain should be addressed and jurisdictions outlined so that workers can get the support they so urgently require. Equipment and infrastructure should also be upgraded for safety and efficiency.
By focusing on improving working conditions, upscaling operational processes and streamlining institutional frameworks, while highlighting innovation and social benefits for sanitation workers, Lagos has an opportunity to rapidly progress in the actualization of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 8 (Decent Work).
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support of the Initiatives for Sanitation Workers in 2022 – 2023 for the ‘Hidden World of Lagos Sanitation Workers’ project. To read the detailed report, click here.
The blog authors are:
Basirat Oyalowo is a Senior Lecturer in Real Estate at Oxford Brookes University. Previously, she was Research Manager at Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos (email: boyalowo@brookes.ac.uk)
Taibat Lawanson is Professor of Urban Management and Governance and Co-Director of Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos, Nigeria (tlawanson@unilag.edu.ng)
Anthony Akpan is founder and president of the Lagos based NGO Pan African Vision for the Environment (ajakpan@yahoo.com)