IMPACT OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL ON THE HEALTH OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS OF OGBA/EGBEMA/NDONI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA (ONELGA), RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

The study intends to investigate the impact of solid waste disposal on the health of secondary school students in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area in Rivers State. Two research questions guided the study. This study adopted a descriptive study design. The study was carried out in Secondary schools in Ogba Egbema Ndoni L.G.A. The target population of the study was all students, teachers, and administrators of secondary school in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LG.A. The sample size of 200 people was randomly selected from five secondary schools in ONELGA for the study. The researcher used a sampling method to adequately manipulate the enormous population. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. The test already possesses face and content validity before it was administered. The data for this study was collected directly by the researcher through the students, teachers, and proprietors of the selected schools in ONELGA. Data collected were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package. Frequency distributions and other descriptive statistics were used to present data. The findings of the study revealed that there has been an impact of solid waste disposal on the health of secondary school students in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area in Rivers State. The researcher, therefore, recommended that there should be adequate dumping sites for solid waste provided by the government for schools, the dumping sites for refuse should be far away from the school environment. Wastes disposal equipment should be provided for schools to avoid dumping waste in the environment and to also avoid the decay of these wastes in the school environment to avoid many diseases, there should be funds raised for programs to orientate students on proper waste management.