Forcing Cleanliness In Nigeria – A Radical Idea For The Government

FEB 08, 2015

I have an idea on how to “crowdsource” public cleanliness and beauty in Nigeria (and have a small side-effect of registering properties, getting tax money, and improving computer literacy).

Step 1: All houses/lands will have to apply for an ID number. This unique ID number will be visible over the house number or at the edge of the property. Lands are registered on a website. An online registration does not mean the person owns the land; all it means is that that person is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of that property

Step 2: A central cleanliness standard is developed. This standard is updated every 6 months, and the standard unambiguously describes what is regarded as a violation. E.g. an unpainted house is a violation, an overflowing gutter is a violation, a tire outside the house is a violation.

Step 3: When a house violates any of the standards, any member of the public is allowed to take a photo of the violation and upload it to a website. (Any reporter of the infraction will receive half of the fine, while the government receives the other half). The responsible party is notified of the uploaded violation, and has two weeks to log into the system and mark the violation as resolved. If the original reporter accepts, then the case is closed. If the original reporter does not accept and posts another photo, after 12 weeks or 3 non-acceptances, then the case will be marked as an infraction, and will go to tribunal.

Acceptable cleanliness standards should include the area around any house. E.g. the gutter running in front of a house or piece of land.

Step 4: Tribunals are set up, whose job it is to fine houses that have violated the regulation for more than 12 weeks. An inspection car goes to the property, takes a photo and returns with the photo. The photo is evaluated and compared to the original reporters photo and the tribunal makes a quick decision based on the regulation book if indeed an infraction occurred. If so, then a fine is automatically imposed on that property. The fine will be split between the government and the reporter.

Step 5: If fines are not paid for a period exceeding 1 year, the property can be seized. Using this method, the Government will do multiple things:

– It stimulates the economy by forcing people to spend on maintenance and beauty.

– It instills a sense of order and cleanliness into people, which has a lot of secondary positive effects.

– It provides jobs to people who are usually idle, as they can make a living reporting infractions.

– It forces property owners to use the internet to monitor the status of the cleanliness of their properties and surroundings.

– It gives idle people an incentive to use this website to report infractions and potentially gain benefit.

In addition to this ‘stick’ method, there should also be a ‘carrot’ approach, where there are rewards for the cleanest house in a street, also voted for online by the people using this platform.by Mark Essien