Waste Management Expert Canvasses FG Intervention On Oyo State

By RAJI ADEBAYO

In order to protect the people of Lagelu local government and its environs in Oyo state from the harmful effects of exposure to toxic wastes, appeal has gone to Federal government to assist in clean up the toxic waste dump in that local government area of the state.
The appeal was made recently in Lagos by Professor Oladele Osibanjo, Director of Basel Convention Regional Coordinating, Centre for Africa, University of Ibadan while delivering a paper on “Stimulating National Awareness on Waste Management and the Environment in Nigeria”.
According to him, “the Federal government and the Oyo state government should act swiftly to clean up the toxic waste dump in Lagelu local government and the communities nearby from harmful effects of exposure to toxic wastes”.
He explained that the effect of toxic wastes on human health and other living creatures is harmful and very dangerous which need urgent attention, thus, called on all relevant agencies as a matter of urgency to clean up the toxic waste dump in Lagelu local government area of Oyo state and other parts of the country.
This according to him will go a long way to protect the people of such areas from health hazards, protect the environment and the communities, hence, enhance the economic development of such areas, the state and the country as a whole.
Osibanjo disclosed that solid waste management has been an intractable problem beyond the capacity of most municipals and state governments in Africa some years ago considering the volume of waste generated which surpassed the weak and inadequate infrastructure for waste management.
He maintained that there are lots of measures to be put in place to enhance waste management in Nigeria which include budgetary provision of adequate and predictable funding for waste management infrastructures and operations.
In his opinion, he viewed that assistance should be given to waste scavengers to move out of manual picking by instituting retraining programmes or subsidizing of sorting or redemption centre and to put a check and control in place to curb harassment of itinerant buyers and waste dealers by the law enforcement agencies.
Also, development of the informal sector in waste recycling activities through technical and financial incentives to the stakeholders involved, encourage networking towards the establishment of Waste Stock Brokage in the country.
He stressed that there is need to promote innovation for the creation of new uses for goods and materials that would otherwise be discarded after initial use, also exportation of recyclables material into neighboring countries where there is high demand for it with guarantee for safety and non-toxicity to human, other living creatures and environment.
“Promotion of educational campaigns for public support of waste reduction and recycling, reduction of the stigma attached to waste work to encourage more participation of professional and individuals in the management and reduction of wastes”, he added.