Director General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Dr. Innocent Barikor, has that said there is heavy penalty for environmental violation along the value chain of the of the disposition of battery in a manner that is not acceptable by the law.

Barikor made this statement in Lagos on Monday, September 9, 2024, during the Capacity Building Workshop on Used Lead-Acid Battery Recycling in Nigeria.

According to him, “one of the contents of the National Environmental (Battery Control) Regulations, 2024, is that it is driven by the “Polluter Pays Principle” and has established an Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR) system which means that we are going to cascade, so producers must take responsibility.

“The major responsibility of NESREA is to enforce and the regulation already stipulates the enforcement, even before enforcement, do the people know there is a regulation? Do they know the extent of these regulations? Even though ignorance of the law is not an excuse, but can we now begin to give them some knowledge and space to understand that is what the law says. So henceforth as a regulator or recycler, if you don’t register, there’s a penalty,” he maintained.

In his remarks, Dr. Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria), said the workshop is about “building our capacity and creating awareness about the next steps in the use LED asset recycling batteries, a sector we think have been so much neglected for so many years, until we did a whistle blowing in 2016 by exposing the dangerous activities happening in that sector in terms of the recycling practices being undertaken by mostly Asians, Chinese and Indian companies, of course with connivers of some Nigerians, where we were told that they are doing green recycling, that is sustainable recycling of use lead acid recycling, batteries.

“But when we went visiting, we found out that communities were dying instalmentally from the activities. So, we raised alarm through the media, through research, well founded research and we had the response from the global community, particularly the European countries. Had to court business buying from Nigeria because of that bad practice, and that signalled why the Federal Ministry of Environment kicked up quickly policy process, which was what we advocated and called for, kicked up policy programme for the country, which is realised now, followed by different experiential learning trip to Germany to see how it’s better done. And now the regulation which we all participated in to see through so that the sector can be regulated.

“So basically, what we are doing as a non-governmental organisation, professional one interested in the sector, is we are not just campaigning or advocating for the sector to be shut down. We are also collaborating, we brought experts all the way from Germany, Oeko-Institut, to come here and give us tailored-made approach to solving the problems. So, we don’t just whistle blow alone, we also offer solutions to the problem in terms of if we say this sector is not doing the job, then it is also for us to recommend what they should do. We went beyond that, we even had to go get funding support from the German government to train Nigerians, to train the plant managers or the recyclers on how to best handle it.

“So what we are doing here today is a partnership between the private public sector, where we are bringing face-to-face the regulators, with those who they are regulating, to learn and unlearn, so that at least when the regulators tomorrow go to implement the regulation or to enforce the regulation, it will not be an issue of no, we are not aware of this Standard Operational Procedure (SPP) as being discussed with the participants of the workshop. There’s a co-learning exponential process happening so that at least we all can live in a sustainable environment,” he stressed.

Mr. Andreas Manhart, from Oeko Institute in Germany, while speaking on the essence of the workshop, said: “The institute works on a lot of environmental topics and hazardous waste and contaminates are one of them, and contaminates travel around the world, so it’s basically a global responsibility to manage them properly. And contaminates have the biggest impacts directly on people. So, we’re not speaking about climate change, which certainly is extremely important. But those who really affect people, lead and heavy metals still stick out, but they can be managed. So, we have a lot of cases where these contaminates, and these processes can be done very well. But in Nigeria, of course, like in many other countries, is still quite some challenges. So today we’re talking about lead poisoning.”

On what Nigeria needs to do to effectively regulate the unwholesome practices, Manhart opined: “First of all, this is about lead acid batteries, which are recycled. So there is quite big business sector behind it to recycle them, and this can be done properly, but it’s not always done, and there are severe hot spots in the management and recycling sector in Nigeria, I would not say all of the sector, but part of it, and it’s extremely important, that there is a regulation to define minimum standards and to make the authorities to give them the tools to enforce such minimum requirements. So, this regulation is a crucial steppingstone to improvements.

“Technology is basically the best method for preserving or processing these batteries, as they are unbroken together with the battery acid, they are given to specialised recycling plants that have the equipment that have automatic processes that take care of all types of the lead, the lead oxide, the acid. This has to do with equipment, which is quite capital intensive, but there is already some plants, at least one plant in Nigeria, they can do so. Others are on the way, but you’re not yet there. It can be done. It can be recycled in a safe manner. It can be done so that the workers and the neighbouring communities are safe. Unfortunately, we still see a lot of plants in Nigeria and also in other countries. where this is not the case.”

Mikey Jarrell, a PhD student at the University of California, San Diego, USA, who flew into Nigeria to attend the workshop, said: “I specialise in development economics, which involves economic processes in developing countries. And for me, the topic that I find most interesting is development, the trade-off between growth and public health. For example, in the battery industry, there is a very clear trade-off. You can spend more money to get higher quality machines that pollute less but this might mean less growth, less employment. It’s a balance. Trying to find the balance is my research.

“I’m very impressed with the workshop as I did not expect to find something like this. Before we came to Nigeria, we spoke to Dr Leslie, and he mentioned this conference was happening, and I did not expect the attendance. First of all it was mind blowing to see government officials truly engaged in the material and participating in the workshop, to see the progress that has been made in some of the legislation, and what seems to be a true willingness to enforce some of these measures, and to get members of the industry, the owners of the factories, the people who work in different stages of the industry, to come to the same event at the same time, to speak to these people and to come together. Very impressive.

“The easiest place to start always is something that will be beneficial to all parties. For example, if there is a machine that lowers the costs for the factory and also reduces the pollution, well, then that’s a win-win. I encourage all the stakeholders to always consider this,” Jarrell advised.

In his submission, Mr. Ade Babajide, Director, Lagos State Ministry of the Environment, called for synergy between various government establishments.

He said: “There’s a need for all government agencies to work together. For instance, in a state like Lagos where you have a very high population, and because of the high population, you have so much pressure on the environment, so there’s a need for everybody to collaborate, all hands to be on deck to ensure environmental sustainability and to ensure that we have protection of the environment.”

The Director, who represented the Commissioner and Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, said the workshop offered an avenue for all stakeholders to look at the proper and judicious management of batteries and ferrous material which have a great impact on environment in view of heavy metal contamination.

“So, there’s a need for us to come together to ensure that both the water system, the land and air, are not contaminated and polluted. This is very important so as to ensure that citizens of the states are properly protected, and their health is guaranteed.

“The Battery Control Regulation is a new law, so what we have to do now is to, you know, in Lagos State, we have to look at the law, look at how it works for us. We consider the law. It’s a just been passed. So, we’ll see how it works for us, and we’ll see how we can key into it. As we always say in Lagos, our case is peculiar. Because one, we have very high population. Two, we have a lot of water bodies in Lagos. So, we know that environment is very sensitive. So, we are always very careful to ensure that our environments are always safe,” he stressed.

Dignitaries at the Partnership for Responsible Battery and Metal Recycling (ProBaMet) workshop organised by SRADev-Nigeria with support from Oeko-Institute in Germany include Mrs. Miranda Amachree, Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling (ARBR); Felix Odimegwu, Anambra State Commissioner for Environment; and Oba Kazeem Gbadamosi, the Ologijo of Ogijo.

Others are representatives from Lagos State Environment Protection Agency (LASEPA), Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OGEPA) and other stakeholders.

By Ajibola Adedoye