The Intersection of Informal Waste Scavenging and National (In)Security in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/Abstract
Informal waste workers play an important role in material recovery, recycling and urban waste management in Nigeria, yet their relationship with national security remains insufficiently examined. This study examines how the conditions surrounding informal waste work may create both security vulnerabilities and potential contributions to community security. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on academic literature, documented security incidents and three purposively selected oral interviews. It applies the concept of people as infrastructure as an analytical framework for understanding how informal waste workers’ mobility, local knowledge and social networks connect households, public spaces, waste sites and recycling markets. The findings show that informal waste work is not inherently criminal and that allegations of theft, vandalism and criminal impersonation should not be generalised to the wider occupation. However, limited institutional recognition, occupational precarity and weak regulatory oversight may create conditions that can be exploited by criminal syndicates, insurgent groups, unscrupulous scrap buyers, and opportunistic impersonators. The study also highlights the potential value of waste workers’ local knowledge and regular presence within communities for community security when constructive relationships with authorities exist. Given the purposive interview sample and reliance on documented cases, the study does not establish the prevalence of security-related activities among informal waste workers across Nigeria. It argues for proportionate regulation that combines occupational protection, improved oversight of scrap markets and community engagement without treating informal waste workers as a security threat.
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