Environmentalist wants efficient management of industrial activities to curb emissions, diseases

Obi Anyadiegwu, health and environmental expert, has called for efficient and effective management of industrial activities to address high level of emissions and the resultant diseases in the country.

Anyadiegwu, a medical doctor and environmentalist, made the call in Uyo in an interview on the sidelines of the GEF-UNIDO specialised workshop for the Bank of Industry and other strategic stakeholders.

He said that life-threatening diseases such as kidney, liver and deformities among babies are common experiences that happen as a result of industrial emissions from factories in major cities, adding that acid rain has become a reality.

“Go to the big cities in the country and see the emissions by industries; acid rain is a reality that we all see happening even in Uyo, here; so, let us not deceive ourselves

”These things get into our waterways and we do boreholes, fetch water for drinking and cooking. A lot of these ailments you see like kidney, liver and endocrine diseases, women cannot have children and many are born with deformities, these are all realities that we know happen as a result of industrial emissions.

“So, there is need for industries to manage their activities to reduce emissions; that is what this resource and production efficiency workshop is all about.

“We have been teaching people, policy makers industrialists, the academia and these groups are the financial institutions and we are teaching them that these things exist.”

He commended the federal government’s efforts in protecting the environment, emphasizing that much can still be done to improve on the environment.

According to him, the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Environment was the right step in ensuring that environmental issues were addressed.

“The federal government is already doing a lot to protect the environment, there was no agency like the federal ministry of environment some years ago.

“The federal government started with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) then eventually converting it into the federal ministry of environment. Recently, it has set up a council on climate change under the presidency.”

He disclosed that the United Nations International Development Organization (UNIDO) was assisting the country to improve on its industrial activities that impact on the climate and called on organisations and industries to leverage the assistance and garner resources globally, regionally and locally to fund projects that can enhance and improve on the environment.

Anyadiegwu, who blamed the lack of quality leadership for the country’s failure to create jobs for the teeming young population, said that Nigeria must “build infrastructure that will fast track development and check the exodus of young Nigerians going abroad,” a situation he described as the “second wave of slavery.”