Stakeholders blame NESREA over environmental pollution in Kano

Stakeholders in environmental services and community leaders in Kano have blamed National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) for contributing to continuous industrial pollution in the State, citing inexcusable negligence to its entrusted national responsibility.

According to The Guardian, the communities indicted NESREA of compromising its primary assignment, failure to respond decisively to cases of illicit discharge of toxic waste by ternary companies reported to it.

The stakeholders who lamented the hurdle at the first town hall meeting with stakeholders and owners of facilities organised by NESREA insisted that uncontrolled activities of the ternaries in Kano is contaminating the air and inflicting health hazard in communities, The Guardian reports.

However, NESREA opined that the agency is performing its duties accordingly as seven ternaries were shut in the last six months for failing to meet the required standard.

NESREA Director General, Dr. Laurence Chidi Anukam who declined to mention the identity of the affected ternaries said the affected facilities were operating without primary treatment plant required globally to treat toxic waste, The Guardian reports.

The Guardian reports that one of the community leaders at the occasion Alhaji Abdulmaliq Haruna lamented that the residents of Sabuwargandu, Gidan Maza and Tukuntawa communities all in Kumbotso local government area of the cities have suffered untold health hazard as a result of industrial waste being discharged through drainage channel in the communities.

According to Haruna, “ we have reported the development to NESREA on several occasions, surprisingly, they did nothing to stop the ternaries. This people are fond of polluting our environment, during the night. When they release the dirty water, the odour will affect communities”.

Haruna, who couldn’t identify the specific ternary discharging toxic waste, noted, “ all the ternaries are in Sharada area but we cannot say particularly who did not treat their waste and those that treated because they have one single channel where all the discharges pass through”.

Source: The Guardian