Inefficient waste mgt system responsible for Nigeria’s environmental challenges – Expert

An expert, Nosa Tokunbor, has blamed the environmental challenges in Nigeria on inefficiency in the waste management system, especially the unchecked spread of single-use plastic pollution. This development, he said, is responsible for the abundant presence of single-use plastic pollution across all cities of the country. Tokunbo, who is the Executive Director, Foundation for Earth […]

An expert, Nosa Tokunbor, has blamed the environmental challenges in Nigeria on inefficiency in the waste management system, especially the unchecked spread of single-use plastic pollution.

This development, he said, is responsible for the abundant presence of single-use plastic pollution across all cities of the country.

Tokunbo, who is the Executive Director, Foundation for Earth Rights Assembly (FERA), said this at the weekend in Benin while commemorating World Environmental Day with the theme, “End Plastic Pollution”.

Tokunbor said plastic pollution is one of the greatest environmental challenges of the 21st century, causing wide-ranging damage to ecosystems and human health.

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The expert, who quoted a report from the West African Coastal Areas Management Programme (WACA), commissioned by the World Bank, said, “less than 12 per cent of plastic waste is recycled in Nigeria, of which roughly 3.5 million plastic waste is generated in the country”.

He added that the report shows that Nigeria only has eight plants for the recovery of plastic waste, while 18 are reportedly in various development stages and puts Nigerian total annual plastic waste around 1.5 million metric tonnes.

Tokunbo called for an urgent need to halt plastic pollution in Nigeria and globally to save the earth and find an alternative to single-plastic usage.