Environmentalist urges FG to strengthen waste disposal laws

Mufwang, an environmental legal expert consulting for the Federal Ministry of Environment, made the call in an interview with newsmen.He advised government to intensify its efforts on waste disposal and re-cycling, saying that developed countries had been able to boost their economy through the re-cycling of their waste.He stressed the need for the country to […]

Mufwang, an environmental legal expert consulting for the Federal Ministry of Environment, made the call in an interview with newsmen.
He advised government to intensify its efforts on waste disposal and re-cycling, saying that developed countries had been able to boost their economy through the re-cycling of their waste.
He stressed the need for the country to develop its waste disposal methods to be able to key into global best practices in the environment sector.
“One of the weaknesses in our laws that we have identified so far is the issue of disposal of waste which deals with the issue of disposal of containers; its one area that the law needs to be strengthened, needs to be well spelt out. Even the issue of drinking a bottle of coke and throwing away the can; these are all injurious, so we need to have a law in place.
“We need to amend our laws and make sure that the issue of disposal in every sector is clearly spelt out.
“We need to also embark on massive education of the populace, particularly the rural populace that doesn’t know the dangers of these things.’’
Mufwang also urged  the Federal Government to implement some of the multilateral agreements Nigeria had signed, to raise the profile of the sector.
He said that the environment sector is one of the easiest areas to measure tangible achievements.
He said that areas of climate change and issues of ozone depleting substances were definite measurable programmes that had already been developed by the international agencies for implementation.
Citing the example of the Montreal Protocol, he said, Nigeria should come up with  modalities to measure the level of implementation of that protocol.
“They (Federal Government) were able to develop a programme for the phasing out of the gas that was being used in air conditioners and fridges, following what they call the Montreal protocol. You can measure that by going to your industries, for example, and knowing what kind of gas are they using or are they putting if they are local manufacturers. Apart from that, even those that are being imported, what kind of gas do they come up with? But many at times, Nigerians don’t know, of course, environmental issues are not like roads and dams.
“So, they may not be able to still appreciate it because environmental degradation is a silent killer sometimes, so it takes time before you appreciate what is being done at that level.
“But, definitely for people who know environmental issues, there are many measurable actions that can be done and people can monitor progress or otherwise.’’(NAN)