28 December 2008
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The year, 2008, which draws a curtain in just two days, has witnessed a lot of eventful occasions-both good and bad-in the environment sector whose mention here and eventual execution, by the policy makers will certainly help reduce some natural and manmade disasters in the country.
Environmental degradation, which ranges from desertification to erosion; flood, pollution, waste to oil spillage, has continued to make attractive headlines thereby putting policymakers at a crossroad on the best way to handle the problems.
The Federal Ministry of Environment, whose responsibilities include securing a quality environment conducive for good health and well being of fauna and flora, promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, restoring and maintaining the ecosystem, ecological process and biodiversity and, especially, raising awareness on climate change, had to grapple with the above mentioned challenges and more during the year in review.
Sanitation
The increasing concern for the consistently poor state of environmental sanitation and its role in the propagation of diseases and increasing the rate of mortality, as well as increasing flooding disasters due to blockage of drainages through indiscriminate refuse disposal, has continued to trouble the country. Environmental sanitation, which is the primary responsibility of every citizen, has not improved if figures given by government are taken into consideration.
This was brought into focus when the Federal Government, during the commemoration of this year's World Environmental Sanitation Day, took a swipe at both local and state governments for their inability to ensure proper sanitation in their respective areas of jurisdiction. The then Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Halima Tayo Alao, said despite government's efforts to sensitise people on the need for proper sanitation, a simple hand wash which would help to reduce some deadly diseases like cholera, was being ignored.
She said: "Let me use this opportunity to express my displeasure at the slow pace of the implementation of the National Environmental Sanitation Policy by all tiers of government generally, but local governments in particular.
"Many states and local governments are yet to reintroduce the sanitary inspection of premises as enunciated in the policy, despite the directive by the National Council on Environment, Housing and Urban development".
She however said the Ministry had put in place a number of policies and measures to improve the overall status of environmental sanitation in the country, which included progressive implementation of the National Environmental Sanitation Policy, launched in 2005 with targets of increased access to toilet facilities by all Nigerians and reduction of sanitation related illnesses and mortality by 75 percent by 2010.
Waste Management
Due to the high level of poor environmental sanitation, the country has continued to witness 'pyramids' of refuse which litter almost every part of the country. Thus, the Federal Government, in collaboration with some state governments, decided to look for the best way to manage the refuse which informed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of the Integrated Waste Management Facility [IWMF].
Daily Trust reported that a waste feasibility study of 15 cities had been conducted with the purpose of identifying locations for the project. The pilot study locations included Aba, Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ilorin, Maiduguri, Yola, Jos, PortHarcourt, Uyo, Onitsha, Benin and Abuja.
The project consists of a material recovery facility centre, a composting plant, an incinerator, a plastic recycling plant, and a landfill being executed through Public-Private Partnership.
Our reporter learned, however, that apart from Aba, Abia state, whose project had taken off immediately, all the states have been dragging the project which resulted in continuous accumulation of waste.
Desertification
Perhaps, desertification, which affects the northern part of the country, will remain the most neglected area by government in the year.
The menace, the Federal Government lamented, was "assuming a frightening proportion, resulting in an annual loss of about 350,000 square metres of arable land affecting 43 percent of our land mass and the 30.6 per cent of Nigerians living in the semi-arid area".
The 11 frontline states mostly affected by desert encroachment are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Gombe, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. The government said it had introduced different projects like sand dune stabilisation, range land management, and oasis management, which aimed to arrest the problem.
However, Daily Trust can reveal that apart from the annual fanfare of a Desertification Control event which was flagged off by the Federal Government in Bauchi in June and the Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of establishing a shelterbelt in the 11 frontline states by a German firm, Hagen Engineering Company, on the 15th of this month, virtually nothing has been done to arrest the menace. The company is funding the project with €15million (about N300 billion), according to its sponsor.
Even the Federal Government's pledge to plant one billion trees across the country especially in the desert affected areas has not taken off.
Erosion and flood
Another area of great concern is erosion and flooding, which threaten the country's vast land mass, putting millions of people at the risk of losing their lives and properties.
Investigations by our reporter reveal that about 60 per cent of Nigeria's total land mass (it has 923,000sq km) is prone to flood and erosion. Also, over 50 million Nigerians reside in areas that are at risk of soil degradation due to erosion. The menace, which affected mostly the South-eastern states of the country is, if care is not taken, going to consume the whole region. For instance, government figures reveal that in the last 20 years, over 1,500 hectares of land have been lost to erosion at Agulu-Nanka in Anambra state alone.
However, during the year, the Government said it had undertaken a Land Degradation Mapping and Assessment for prevention of potential erosion hazards. The project, being executed using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System would, according to government, provide information on the number, total land area affected, and morphometry of gullies occurring in different parts of the country.
The government has already executed a number of erosion and flood control policies: launching of flood awareness campaign and a workshop on flood early warning which aimed to sensitise people on the need for timely warning of the impending dangers of flood.
Oil spill
Oil spill, which largely happens due to the activities of oil companies in the Niger Delta region, has continued to aggravate environmental degradation in the country.
Reports by government reveal that a total of 233 spills were reported by oil companies as at August, which is still alarming considering the amount of money given to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency [NOSDRA] to arrest the problem.
The agency, whose responsibility is to coordinate and monitor the implementation of Federal Government policies on the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP) in accordance with the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC), 1990, which the country has ratified has to brace up to face the challenges.
Climate change
Climate change which is being aggravated by some activities of man has taken centre stage in the country (like never before) just like it did in the whole world throughout the year. Its negative impact on the country due to indiscriminate felling of trees, uncontrolled pollution have made government to launch some programmes aim at mitigating its effects .However, like desertification, the country's approach to the climate change must be made realistic by tackling both natural and manmade disasters which fuel its impact.
Enforcement
The main challenge of addressing most environmental problems in the country is the inadequate compliance, monitoring and enforcement of environmental laws, standards and regulations. The National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA), whose responsibility includes enforcing all environmental, laws, guidelines, policies, standards and regulations as well as enforcing compliance with provisions of international agreements, protocols seem not have recorded much success in the year.
Daily Trust learnt that most industries that pollute the environment ignored government's threat to shut them down when they refuse to comply with NESREA's regulations thereby resulting to more pollution .
However with the opening of it's (the agency) offices in some states; and if enforcement tightened, the coming year may look bright for the country.
Also public enlightenment on the dangers of polluting the environment needs to be strengthened.
In conclusion one can say the year-with both its kudos and knocks, may be a guide to the government on the best way to tackle the menace of environmental degradation. One of the factors responsible for the seemingly intractable challenges of the environment and habitat management in Nigeria and indeed globally, is of course the dynamism and frontier-less nature of the problems. Thus they require the broad participation of both local and international stakeholders to address them.
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