Environmental Challenges: FG Urges Stakeholders On Collective Responsibility

Giving the environmental challenges facing the country, the federal government has called for collective responsibility and actions from all stakeholders in both the public and private sector, including the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in combating the problems.

The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, who made the call at a Stakeholders’ Forum in Abuja, reiterated that environmental protection was top in the “change agenda” of the present administration.

According to her, many environmental problems have become trans boundary in nature as their effects can now be felt hundreds of miles away from their source of origin.

This, she said “has made it imperative for us to be vigilant at home and at the same time be active player at home, and at the time be an active player in the global efforts to protect the environment”.

The minister lament the huge challenges facing the Nigeria and other developing countries in terms of waste management which according to her, is largely due to lack of appropriate mechanisms and infrastructure.

“In Nigeria, due to lack of adequate infrastructure to manage waste safety, these waste are buried, burnt in the open air or dumped into surface water bodies. Crude ‘backyard’ recycling practices, which are not efficient and are highly polluting are also used in material recovery activities, especially in our urban areas” she stated.

Mohammed also noted that some wastes are either internally generated or imported illegally as ‘used’ goods in an attempt to bridge the so-called ‘digital device’, warning that some of the waste are contain hazardous constituents that may negatively impact the environment and affect human health if not properly managed.

She highlighted some of the environmental problems as water pollution, biodiversity loss, erosion, land degradation, desertification, sprawling urban solid wastes, open bush burning, noise pollution, visual pollution, climate change, ozone layer depletion, among others.

–Leadershipng