Abuja — E-waste entails Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE) including old, end-of-life (eol) or discarded electrical /electronic appliances.It is rather unfortunate that environmentally sound management (ESM) practices in e-waste is virtually absent in developing countries of which Nigeria is one.

The issue of electronic waste otherwise known as e-waste, is the fastest growing waste stream in the world today, and the large volume of e-waste which is globally estimated at about 50 million tons annually, is more than three times the municipal waste generation, as contained in a communiqué recently issued by stakeholders at the end of International Conference on E-waste Control held in Abuja.

In Nigeria the influx of e-waste near-end-of-life electronic /electrical equipment is quite alarming going by the way containers of used computers, electrical appliances and parts are being offloaded in major cities in the country on daily basis.

For attestation all one needs to do is to visit Alaba market / computer village in Lagos, Sabon Gari market in Kano and Aba market in Anambra amongst several other points across the country where electronic appliances popularly referred to as Tokunboh in local parlance are being sold and bought by Nigerians.

Many will wonder what should be a big deal in some one buying these Tokunboh electrical appliances since new ones are far beyond the reach of an average Nigerians but behind the low prices of these electronic appliances lie great environmental hazards that if left unchecked will soon present difficult challenges because of its weight, volume, storage needs, and costs . E-waste also poses a long term threat to public health and the environment because it is the largest source of heavy metals and organic pollutants in the solid waste stream.

Nigeria is one of the dumping sites of hazardous e-waste by developed nations as recently disclosed by Minister of Environment Mr. John Odey at an International Press Conference on e-waste control. The Minister revealed that its ministry was alerted of shipment of a large consignment of e-waste from the United Kingdom to Alaba Market in Lagos, and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) moved swiftly to investigate the matter.

Mr. Odey said that Green Peace International had deliberately sent or shipped non-functional (end-of-life) electronic goods to a cycling plant in the UK and attached some tracers for tracking to check if actually such e-wastes were disposed of properly in the UK.

He added that these same goods that were handed in for disposal were shipped with other second-hand products to Nigeria. Odey described the Alaba incidence as an eye-opener and clear evidence that some end-of-life electrical and electronic goods from developed countries are actually shipped to the developing countries as second-hand products while thanking Green Peace International for lending credence to this discovery.

Of course Green Peace International as mentioned by Mr. Odey has done well by exposing the illegality of shipping products that were meant for disposal in their country to Nigeria for use. To this development many environmentalists have chided the regulatory agencies that are responsible for policing our environment for not discovering this while waiting for an agency in another country to do so.

Similarly the discovery by NESREA of some end-of life e-waste in Alaba international market is commendable but more still needed to be done by this agency to ensure that Nigeria as the giant of Africa ceased to be a dumping ground for all manners of hazardous and environmental degrading e-wastes. Lending his voice to the hazards inherent in e-waste influx into the country, Finance Minister Muhtar Mansir said that 20-50 million tonnes of e-waste are generated annually while most of them find their ways into developing nations like Nigeria.

He mentioned that electronic wastes such as televisions, computers and computers components contain toxic substances like lead, mercury, lithium etcetera that create dioxin when burned.

He complained that e-waste today comprises more than 5 percent of all municipal solid waste, which is nearly the same amount as all plastic packaging, and is growing steadily. Muhtar opined that while a proposal for outright ban of these items may be considered anti-people at this stage of our nation's development, he however called for our nation's tariff structure to be adjusted to serve as a disincentive to importers of used electronics, saying this proposition is because export to developing nations is seen as cost effective method of managing e-waste by some companies in the developed economies.

Hon. Duro Faseyi, Chairman House Committee on Environment, attributed the influx of electronic wastes to Nigeria to what he called "unbridled tendency of the developed nations to dump toxic wastes and pollutants in the developing nations," adding that porous nature of the nation's border and high level of poverty, most especially the dubious disposition of some importers and traders to import and sell toxic wastes to unsuspecting consumers compounded the problem.

"People discard computers every two to four years on average, cell phones have a life cycle of less than two years in industrialised countries. It is estimated that 315 million personal computers became obsolete last year.