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Fact-Check 51 – The Fraud of Cleanliness
By Prof. MarkAnthony Nze
When Governor Hope Uzodinma stood on the podium during Imo’s Independence Day celebration in 2023 and proclaimed that “Imo has been adjudged the cleanest state in Nigeria,” the applause drowned out the one question that should have followed: adjudged by whom?
The statement became the new refrain of official propaganda. Ministries repeated it, billboards celebrated it, and local radio stations echoed it. Yet, when independent data was examined, it revealed a state drowning, literally in its own waste.
The Clean-Up Nigeria Initiative, Nigeria’s most recognized environmental index, ranked Imo 28th of 36 states in sanitation performance for 2024. NESREA’s Environmental Compliance Audit showed that only 42 percent of waste generated statewide was collected and just 7 percent was recycled. Behind every claim of progress stood the same rotting heaps of refuse, the same open drains, and the same exhausted residents who now understood that the government had substituted performance for policy.
A Geography of Garbage
In Owerri, the capital that was meant to embody the “Clean Imo” dream, waste mounts like monuments. Along Wethedral Road and Douglas, piles of decomposing refuse lean against concrete barriers. In Orlu and Okigwe, roadside waste dumps are set on fire in the open, releasing clouds of smoke that settle over nearby schools and homes.
The Imo State Waste Management Agency’s 2024 report confirmed what every resident already knew: most local councils no longer operate consistent waste evacuation schedules. In Owerri West, trucks are grounded for lack of fuel. In Isiala Mbano, contractors collect refuse without pay. In Egbu, citizens have created their own landfills because the state’s have reached capacity.
The Federal Ministry of Environment’s 2024 Compendium noted that Imo’s waste-to-energy and recycling initiatives remained “non-operational.” The so-called Avu Recycling Plant, once presented as the flagship of green modernization, has become a rusting shell. Conveyor belts lie idle, its compactors stripped for parts. No recycling output has been recorded since commissioning.
The Numbers Behind the Filth
Between 2021 and 2024, Imo State budgeted ₦18.3 billion for waste management but released only ₦6.6 billion. That figure; barely one-third of appropriations, exposes a government more interested in announcements than implementation.
| Year | Budgeted (₦ Billion) | Released (₦ Billion) | Execution (%) |
| 2021 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 31 |
| 2022 | 4.4 | 1.7 | 38 |
| 2023 | 4.9 | 1.9 | 39 |
| 2024 | 5.2 | 1.8 | 35 |
| Total | 18.3 | 6.6 | 36 |
Source: Imo State Budgets 2021–2024; BudgIT 2025 State of States.
If Imo were truly the cleanest state in Nigeria, its finances would reflect a serious investment in sanitation infrastructure. Instead, the books tell a different story—one of partial funding, half-completed projects, and untraceable expenditures.
Read also: Falsehood No. 50 – “We Built A Modern Waste Recycling Plant”
A Manufactured Honor
When the state claimed to have “won” the title of cleanest state, no record existed from the Federal Ministry of Environment, Clean-Up Nigeria, or NESREA confirming such a ranking. The award was self-issued, generated by a committee composed of political aides and media consultants.
The Transparency International Nigeria 2024 Index placed Imo 33rd in environmental governance transparency, noting the complete absence of published waste management contracts, landfill audits, or recycling performance data. In simple terms, the state graded itself, issued its own certificate, and declared victory in a contest no one else entered.
| State | Transparency Score (/100) | Data Publication Level |
| Kaduna | 82 | Full |
| Lagos | 79 | Full |
| Enugu | 67 | Partial |
| Imo | 41 | Opaque |
Source: Transparency International Nigeria 2024; UNDP 2024.
The Health of Denial
Cleanliness is not an aesthetic; it is a public health necessity. The World Health Organization’s 2024 WASH Report identified Imo as one of the states with the fastest-rising rates of sanitation-linked illnesses. The Federal Ministry of Health’s 2024 Sanitation Bulletin recorded a 19 percent increase in diarrheal and cholera cases, directly connected to poor waste disposal and water contamination.
In the city’s informal markets, plastic waste clogs gutters; when it rains, water pools around food stalls and spreads disease. In Mbaitoli and Owerri North, residents now rely on boreholes drilled near waste sites. The GAIN 2023 Hygiene Study found traces of coliform bacteria in over 40 percent of water samples collected near dumps, confirming a systemic contamination problem.
Each statistic represents lives burdened by the cost of government deception. Behind every heap of garbage lies a ledger of illness, absenteeism, and avoidable death.
The Political Theater of Sanitation
Every environmental drive in Imo is a production staged for optics. A few days before major holidays, bulldozers arrive, heaps are moved to the outskirts, and the streets are photographed from favorable angles. Within weeks, the piles return.
The African Development Bank’s 2024 Urban Sustainability Report described such efforts as “symbolic sanitation”—short-term displays that create the illusion of efficiency without structural change. The UNDP 2024 Human Development Report found that the absence of citizen participation in Imo’s sanitation planning perpetuates this cycle.
At the center of the illusion stands a government obsessed with appearances. It cleans for cameras, not for citizens.
A System That Cannot Breathe
Blocked drains are no longer mere inconvenience; they are a threat to life. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s 2024 Flood Risk Assessment identified Owerri and Orlu as high-vulnerability zones, where flooding has intensified because of uncollected refuse and poor drainage maintenance. When the rains come, the city drowns in its own neglect.
This is what the “cleanest state” looks like—its cleanliness measured by slogans, its decay visible in every downpour.
A Lie in the Language of Progress
Governance in Imo has learned to use the vocabulary of reform while practicing the habits of regression. Words like “modernization,” “innovation,” and “environmental renaissance” populate speeches and budget documents. Yet, on the ground, citizens wade through filth and breathe the smoke of burning waste.
The truth is not hidden in secret memos; it lies in plain sight on every street. The contradiction between the image and the lived experience defines the Uzodinma administration’s environmental record: a government that governs by narration, not performance.
The Verdict
Imo is not the cleanest state in Nigeria. It is one of the least accountable in environmental governance. The data from federal agencies, development partners, and independent monitors converge on the same conclusion:
- Waste collection efficiency below 45 percent.
- Recycling operations non-functional.
- Disease incidence rising.
- Transparency nearly absent.
The “Clean Imo” campaign was not a public health triumph but a political marketing strategy. It replaced evidence with slogans and oversight with self-praise.
Until Imo learns that sanitation begins with honesty, it will continue to mistake the scent of propaganda for the smell of progress. The cleanest state in Nigeria exists only in speeches, while the real Imo remains buried under its own lies and waste.
Professor MarkAnthony Ujunwa Nze is an acclaimed investigative journalist, public intellectual, and global governance analyst whose work shapes contemporary thinking at the intersection of health and social care management, media, law, and policy. Renowned for his incisive commentary and structural insight, he brings rigorous scholarship to questions of justice, power, and institutional integrity.
Based in New York, he serves as a full tenured professor and Academic Director at the New York Center for Advanced Research (NYCAR), where he leads high-impact research in governance innovation, strategic leadership, and geopolitical risk. He also oversees NYCAR’s free Health & Social Care professional certification programs, accessible worldwide at:
👉 https://www.newyorkresearch.org/professional-certification/
Professor Nze remains a defining voice in advancing ethical leadership and democratic accountability across global systems.
Bibliographies
African Development Bank. (2024). Nigeria urban sustainability and environmental resilience report 2024. Abidjan: AfDB Human Development Department.
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National Council on Environment (NCE). (2024, June). Communiqué of the 17th National Council on Environment: State sanitation performance review. Abuja: Federal Ministry of Environment.
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Transparency International Nigeria. (2024). Sub-national environmental governance transparency index 2024. Abuja: TI-Nigeria Secretariat.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2024). Nigeria human development report 2024: Environmental governance and urban resilience. Abuja: UNDP Nigeria Office.
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