Environmental issues boarders on poor hygiene and poor housing, urban dwellers in some cities of Nigeria are not left out. Most of the streets walk ways have been converted to domestic waste dump sites by the inhabitants of the area on a daily bases. The culture of proper waste disposal among the urban dwellers is far from expectations, even when government and agencies responsible for disposal and management of waste made provisions for waste disposal points, the residents do not adhere to rules and regulations because they are used to the habit of dumping their waste indiscriminately.

Improper waste disposal habits starts from homes, waste are disposed around the living homes, some baggage their waste and allow them to stay for days before disposing off. When waste that is meant to be disposed off immediately after generating, are left undisposed, the tendency for it to get rotten and smell is possible. Rodents are thereby welcomed to feast on the waste, and live around home the environment. When rodents are living around the home environment, they not only feast on waste, but on anything they can easily bite and chew including food stuff which they also defecate on, and in the process transmit causative organism of Lassa fever to human beings who consume the virus infected food.

According to United Nations Human settlement Programme, improper waste disposal results in breeding places for vectors of disease, while poor levels of housing offer easy access to rodent , which is more in urban area, they further emphasis that this result in significant spread of communicable diseases or new syndromes, thus, adding to the local disease burden. However, for safety of human lives in the environment, a rethink on how to properly disposed waste generated in homes and our surrounding generally is inevitable. People need to be educated on proper waste disposal habit and also on how to manage wastes for the prevention of epidemic disease such as Lassa fever, as well as for a safe and healthy environment.

These will serve the bases of our discussion on this edition of village square.