A waste management expert, Prof. Oladele Osibanjo, has advised the incoming Minister of Environment to prioritise approval of a national policy on solid and hazardous waste management and regulations.
Osibanjo, President, Waste Management Society of Nigeria (WAMASON), gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday, July 31, 2019.
According to him, Nigeria still lacks some basic tools for sustainable waste management.
“We need to promote waste management as a resource, and not just as waste collection and disposal.
“By waste collection and disposal, I mean taking waste from areas where it is generated to the dumpsites.
“We should be encouraging waste recycling, waste re-use and waste reduction.
“To be able to do all these with ease, there should be a guiding policy to encourage investors and entrepreneurs to go into all aspects of waste management,” he said.
Osibanjo said that the incoming minister should also promote a cleaner environment which, he said, would be made achievable by sorting of waste from source.
He added that public awareness creation on environment was important.
The expert urged the incoming minister to seek legislative support for efficient use of ecological funds, adding that he should push for domestication of signed multilateral agreements on environment yet to be adopted.
Osibanjo advised that the various parks and gardens should be re-positioned to make them tourist destinations.
According to the professor, the incoming minister should also find ways to turn ecological resources into a gold mine.
By Chidinma Agu
