This morning, while driving from Eleyele Road to Sango, I witnessed something troubling. A woman stood by the road median, calmly offloading waste from a sack onto the ground. She did it boldly, without caution, despite being surrounded by hundreds of people, parked cars, and open shops, yet nobody questioned her. Everyone behaved as if nothing unusual was happening.
Immediately, I remembered some friends who have been posting pictures of refuse on medians, blaming government and demanding answers about “illegal waste disposal.” I couldn’t help but smile, because the real issue is not always government failure, sometimes, the problem is our attitude. How do we explain a full-grown woman, a mother, confidently dumping waste in broad daylight even when two waste bins are placed just a few meters away? Can we honestly say the government hasn’t done the needful there?
Why is it that the people around her looked away? Is the woman unaware that dropping refuse on the median is wrong, or have we normalized such wrongdoing as a society? The irony is simple: if the environmental task force had arrested her, many of those who ignored her actions or those posting online , would still accuse the government of being “too harsh.”
We must tell ourselves the truth. Waste management is not only a government responsibility; it reflects our personal discipline, civic awareness, and collective conscience. Until we correct our own habits, no effort from government will give us the clean environment we desire. It is time to rise above blame and embrace responsibility.
