Businesses including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been urged to tap the opportunities inherent in Nigeria’s circular space to create sustainable wealth, and jobs while preserving the environment.
With Nigeria generating about 32 million tonnes of waste annually, there is a huge opportunity for SMEs in the circular space. Nigeria is estimated to create 10 million jobs and generate N8 trillion annually by 2050 through recycling, sustainable agriculture, and resource-efficient manufacturing.
These were major takeouts from the recent Circular Procurement workshop in Lagos by the Circular Business Platform (CBP) in partnership with PwC Nigeria.
Marilyn Obaisa-Osula, head of ESG-Sustainability and Climate Change Services at PwC Nigeria, said the circular economy is driving values for businesses and that the value will die if Nigeria fails to commercialise it.
According to her, regulation will enter the circular economy if Nigeria progresses in commercialising and harnessing its opportunities.
Pointing out that there are interests in circular procurement, but people don’t know how to go about it, she said, the idea of the workshop is to build demand by getting the right customers and scaling up demand for circular products by bringing large corporates to talk with the SMEs.
“Nigeria needs to begin to see circular economy beyond waste and planet protection because it holds opportunities in fashion and textile, electronics, packaging, food system and build environment,” Obaisa-Osula explains.
She advised the government to have capacity-building workshops to create awareness targeted at showing people how and where to go.
She believes that if the government takes a step forward to create awareness, it will encourage private organisations to invest in educating people on the opportunities in the circular economy as part of their social corporate responsibility.
Defining circular procurement, Natalie Beinisch, executive secretary of the CBP, said the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.
Therefore, she advised, that Nigeria can only grow circular business if the country invests in ensuring that firms in the circular ecosystem have and keep the customers.
Read also: Industries must work together to incentives circular practices, attract investments – Runsewe
“Circular procurement is connected to a buyer-driven procurement where large institutions such as the government and multinationals set up requirements to make some of their products more result efficient or ways it can be reused or re-integrate the waste material into their production,” Beinisch explains.
She said gathering players together for the workshop is to create an opportunity for people to learn from one another.
“There’s a need for bottom-up innovation to build this market and build the business cases. This is around identifying customer needs and building those ecosystem linkages to create customers and products,” she added.
Confirming that the circular economy holds tremendous opportunities for businesses, Titilayo Oshodi, senior special assistant to Lagos State Governor on Climate Change and Circular Economy, said businesses generate about N400 million per day in pet plastics alone, an informal sector that does not have clear cut regulation and policy.
She believes that Nigeria will increase its tax net and revenue profile if this sector is formalised.
Citing examples of what Lagos is doing in the circular economy procurement space, she said through collaboration, Lagos and BTNL Nigeria, a waste management company connected to Rwanda’s clean energy, are working towards establishing green energy through circularity.
She said the BTNL converts organic waste into biogas for electricity or organic waste to biogas, biogas for electricity or cooking.
“We designed an initiative for an all-girls Correctional Facility to drive knowledge for conversion of plastic into useful items for interior decoration, items, and fashion accessories.
“Through the initiative, we were able to instill some level of wholesomeness, inclusivity in the girls, and the ability to integrate back into society. This can help them make something out of their life after serving their term,” she explains.
Pointing out the second procurement aspect, Oshodi said the kitchen of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) at Idi-Araba, Lagos generates a tonne of organic waste daily.
She said the solid waste from the kitchen is transferred into biodigester at the correctional facility, giving the facility access to biogas for cooking while the byproducts like fertilizer are channelled to farmland cultivated by the girls to have access to organic and homegrown foods.
Oshodi said the state tries to bring big corporates into the space with financial institutions to create social, environmental, and economic impact to see some trajectory out of financial stagnation for Nigerians.
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