Ayo Oyoze Baje
Well aware of the deleterious effects and impacts of climate change on the socio-economic development of the global landscape, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) was established in 2002 as a follow-up on the Rio De Janeiro Conference in 1992. With the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and UNEP providing both the financial and technical support, the promotion of Resource Efficiency and a Cleaner Industrial Production to different countries across the globe has become more engaging and fruitful. But how far has Nigeria keyed into these laudable initiatives, especially in the face of the mounting challenges of Climate Change? That is the million – naira question, needing urgent answers from our policy makers and the stakeholders.
To begin with, are Nigerians aware of the increasing need to protect the ecosystem by the way and manner they dispose of their household wastes? Are the areas close to factories also protected, especially where toxic and poisonous effluents are discharged directly into nearby streams and rivers? What efforts have been made to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases? What about the enabling legislation aimed at drastically reducing the disastrous health challenges posed to the host communities? Are they adequate and being enforced to bring the culprits to book as well as safeguard our fragile environment from further deterioration?
It was largely due to the country’s lack of proper awareness on sustainable production, in line with internationally accepted Best Practices that some oil companies engaged in massive oil spillage and destruction of vast farmlands in the Niger-Delta region, over the decades. Sadly, some of the residents were unprotected from the debilitating health hazards. Subsequently, it was discovered that several residents suffered from different types of cancer caused by drinking water that was highly polluted by heavy metals such as cadmium and lead.
It was similarly discovered by researchers that most of the diseasess that got the precious lives of the under-5 children wasted were traced to non-treated and ill-disposed wastes from homes and factories.
So, to provide credible answers to the disturbing questions on lack of environmental protection, lessons have to be learnt from the efforts made so far by some of our universities, research institutes and how to synchronize them. That is significantly so for an all-encompassing approach as solutions to the environmental degradation challenges. For instance, the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Ibadan has been actively involved since 2010 in public enlightenment with the local communities, on the root causes and dangers of Climate Change. That is in addition to the critical issues of leadership, good governance and tourism. With the support of the Oyo state government, it was discovered that the system of waste disposal has become more effective,e leading to a drastic reduction in the incidence of cholera epidemic.
In a similar gesture of the imperative of public enlightenment on environmental protection, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, hosted the first National Conference on Sustainable Production in partnership with Greener Environment and Materials Sustainability ( GEMS ) in 2011. It attracted participants from countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania and of course, Nigeria. The University also hosts the Africa Round Table with a series of workshops on related issues. These include enlightening farmers on how to make more profit by recycling their waste while being encouraged to stop the felling of trees.
Taking it to a broader global perspective, the premier private university of technology in the country, Bells University of Technology Ota, Ogun state, held the Second International Workshop on Sustainable Industrial Production also in collaboration with GEMS in March 2014. It was there that the world-renowned Kenyan-born Quality Systems expert and the Executive Manager of African Eco-Labelling Mechanism Secretariat, Ms Cristian Kalui, warned about the escalating dangers of environmental degradation caused by Man!
She highlighted the fact that while other organisms take only what they need and hardly harm the environment, man has so far exhibited the characteristics of the most dangerous inhabitant to the ecosystem. Yet, the onus still lies on the shoulders of that same man to fix the harm he has brazenly done to the ecosystem.
On his part, and in search of solutions to the preventable harm caused by man, Prof.Ifeoluwa Adewumi of the Niger-Delta University, Bayelsa state an expert on Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, highlighted the importance and imperative of networking and collaborations. That is of individuals, institutions, company executives, health, safety and environmental managers, as well as NGOs. They have to come together and promote sustainable economic situation development of Nigeria in particular and the African continent in general through effective production and consumption methods that protect the environment.
And to further bolster that claim, Prof. Labode Popoola, a professor of Forest Economics and Director, Centre for Sustainable Development of the University of Ibadan, admitted that: “Nigeria’s environment is grossly polluted and chaotic”. The solution, in the view of Prof. Adewumi, is to create a new set of leaders to think and work on sustainability. That is in both production and in consumption. This underscores the relevance of individuals to change their mindset on environmental protection. That would make the needed through leadership by example as was done by the erstwhile governors of Akwa Ibom, Osun and Lagos during the tenure of Babatunde Raji Fashola who facilitated the nation’s first Seminar on Waste Management.
Going forward, it has become necessary not only to bridge the gap with laws that promote environmental protection but enforce such. That is the valid position of Mr. Andy Ukah, a representative of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORCN), a body that has been pushing for the enactment of the Public Health Law since 1973. The protection of our environment should, therefore, be seen as our collective responsibility, And we can play our parts as instructors on the dangers of clogging the gutters and canals with all manner of wastes, that of felling of trees and also as media practitioners in raising warning signals about ecosystem degradation especially near factories. While lawyers and NGOs should stand by the laws on public health, the security officers should ensure their enforcement. Of significance also is the application of public-private partnerships ( PPP) to reduce the root causes of Climate Change.
Ayo Oyoze Baje, a public Affairs Analyst, wrote In from Lagos
