Experts decry lack of data on waste management

Experts in environmental protection and management have decried the lack of data on individual and household waste generation in the country.

They said this hinders the provision of information that mitigate the effects of pollution and other harmful practices to Nigeria’s environment.

They spoke at a one-day workshop on environmental protection held in Asaba, Delta State, organised for health, safety and environment officers from select institutions and companies in the state.

Ijeoma Owamah, the guest speaker, lamented the lack of data on individual and household waste generation that ought to enable a proper waste management system.

In most states in Nigeria we have not started managing solid wastes. What we do, we gather solid wastes from the domain of the rich and then we take it to the domain of the poor, she lamented.

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Arthur Essaghah, a professor and an environmental management consultant listed mitigation measures to address the impact of industrial pollution to the environment.

Occupational safety and environmental Health training; let it be mandatory for all staff, he declared

Godspower, Asiuwhu, the state’s commissioner for environment, expressed the IIfeanyi Okowa’-led administration’s commitment to supporting businesses while urging companies and institutions to establish environment and health safety departments in their operations.

The training will give you the modern technique, the knowledge of what is happening, particularly the environment we operate as a company, he said.

Victor Okolie, the general manager, Delta State Environment Protection Agency, said the programme was planned to sensitise the participants on emerging environmental issues in the era of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The workshop topic which is environmental protection and public health is apt and deserves attention in order to avoid environmental pollution, with its attendant health hazards,” he said.

Environmental protection officers in the state and civil society partners, including representatives of the National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), attended the summit.