A high percentage of skin lighteners sold worldwide contain dangerous levels of mercury, according to test results contained in a new report by the Zero Mercury Working Group.
Application of skin lightening cream
In 2017 and 2018, 338 skin-lightening creams from 22 countries were collected and tested for mercury.
Ten per cent of the creams (34 creams) had mercury concentrations vary many times higher than levels allowed under the international agreement to control mercury, the Minamata Convention. The levels found in the cosmetics ranged from just over 90 times to an incredible 16,000 times the allowed level post-2020.
Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin which builds up in the human body and cause serious damage to the skin, lungs, kidneys, digestive, immune and nervous systems.
Fifteen out of the 22 sampled countries have legislation or other requirements consistent with the Minamata convention provisions. Out of the seven countries where high mercury samples were found, only four have legal requirements prohibiting creams with more than 1 ppm mercury content.
As the Second Meeting of the Minamata Convention of the Conference of the Parties gets underway in Geneva, Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, Project Manager at the European Environmental Bureau and Zero Mercury Working Group International Coordinator said: “The exposure and toxic trade in illegal high mercury skin lighteners is a global crisis which is expected to only worsen with skyrocketing global demand. To combat this, it’s important for governments to quickly enact and enforce regulations and effectively warn consumers.”
Despite being identified on many government detention lists, recent testing indicates the wide prevalence of high mercury and illegal products indiscriminately sold on the internet.
In a separate exercise, the Mercury Policy Project, the Sierra Club and the European Environmental Bureau purchased skin lighteners from eBay and Amazon websites. The brands purchased included many previously identified as high mercury by New York City, the state of Minnesota, the European Union, Singapore, UAE, the Philippines and many other national governments. Nineteen products had illegal mercury levels, typically more than 10,000 times higher than the legal threshold of 1ppm.
“Internet platforms Amazon and eBay must stop breaking the law with their toxic trade in illegal cosmetics,” said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project. “They have the responsibility and resources to prevent exposing their customers to toxic products.”
Over 50 civil society groups from more than 20 countries sent letters today to Amazon and eBay, calling on them to stop marketing illegal mercury-based skin lightening creams. In their letters, the groups are calling on Amazon and eBay to among others to ensure the products they sell comply with government regulations, develop and monitor lists of toxic skin lighteners and require prior sale approval for those to be sold.
As countries strive to comply with the 1ppm mercury content cutoff provision pertaining to cosmetics in the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a new study has listed a range of measures by which to reduce exposure to mercury from skin lighteners. It also explores renewed opportunities for collaboration with all levels of government and civil society.
Application of skin lightening cream
Scheduled for release at the Second Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP2) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury holding in Geneva Switzerland, the report, titled: “Mercury-added skin-lightening creams: Available, inexpensive and toxic”, was supported in the process of its actualisation by numerous organisations including Nigeria’s SRADev, which undertook the country study.
According to the study, new regulations and enforcement programmes, better enforcement, non-discriminatory advertising, harmonisation of enforcement efforts, targeted monitoring of the marketplace, accurate labelling, education and popular enforcement are measures that can be adopted to curb exposure to mercury from skin lighteners.
The study describes trade of mercury-added skin-lightening products as a global crisis expected to only worsen with skyrocketing demand, especially in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. “Consistent with other research, a new Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) study indicates that a significant percentage of skin-lightening creams sold worldwide contains dangerous levels of mercury,” it adds.
“In 2017 and 2018, 338 skin-lightening creams from 22 countries were collected by 17 of our non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners from around the world and tested for mercury. Some 34 creams (10% of the samples) had mercury concentrations ranging from 93 – 16,353 parts per million (ppm). These levels significantly exceeded not only the legal standard established by countries that regulate these products, but also the provisions set forth in the Minamata Convention disallowing after 2020 the ‘manufacture, import or export’ of cosmetics with a mercury content above 1 ppm,” submit the authors.
Mercury is regarded as toxic and a risk to human health. Regular use of skin bleaching or skin-lightening creams and soaps containing mercury, say scientists, can lead to rashes, skin discoloration and blotching. They add that long-term exposure can have serious health consequences, including damage to the skin, eyes, lungs, kidneys, digestive, immune and nervous systems.
The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry has urged countries to end amalgam use in children by 2020.
President of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, Charlie Brown (third from left), chairs a preparatory meeting in Geneva on the eve of the Second Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP2) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury
The submission is contained in the World Alliance’s position on dental amalgam released on Sunday, November 18, 2018 to the Second Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP2) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury holding in Geneva, Switzerland.
The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry is a global coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that brings together dentists, scientists, physicians, journalists, environmentalists, patients, parents, consumers, engineers, academics, and other civil society stakeholders to work for the end of dental amalgam – especially for children.
“The beginning of the end is already here for amalgam use in this most vulnerable population. It’s time to stop storing mercury in children’s mouths – and put it where it belongs: the hazardous waste bins of history,” says Charlie Brown, President of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry.
Representatives of member countries of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry and NGOs from the countries like Bangladesh, India, China, Lebanon, Vietnam, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya, Germany, USA are part in the meeting
According to the organisation, children are particularly vulnerable to mercury. “Children’s developing brains and neurological systems are especially susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of mercury,” the group notes in the position paper, adding that mercury-free fillings are now available for children.
“Between the irrelevancy of filling longevity in short-lived milk teeth and amalgam’s higher failure rates in these teeth, using amalgam instead of mercury-free fillings in children can longer be justified,” the Alliance emphasises, stressing that ending amalgam use in children is a proven phase down step, and that ending or restricting amalgam use in children has already proven to be an effective phase down step.
Brown states that, at a recent workshop sponsored by the UN Environment and the World Alliance on Promoting Dental Amalgam Phase-Down Measures Under the Minamata Convention and Other Initiatives, experts from 21 countries shared their wealth of experience in phasing down amalgam use – especially for children – in a variety of settings.
Shedding some light on the Nigerian process, Dr Leslie Adogame of SRADev Nigeria points out that the “Nigeria process to actualise this started in 2014 with the famous Abuja Declaration”.
His words: “Recently a national stakeholders’ summit organised by Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with SRADev Nigeria on Development of National Policy on Phase Down of Dental Amalgam Use held in Abuja in July 2018, resolved ‘to end the use of Dental Amalgam as restorative material in children under 16 years, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers (the vulnerable group) by December 2020, and finally make amalgam use history by setting Amalgam phase out date in Nigeria for December 2022’.”
Mercury is used in dental amalgam, a restorative material that is approximately 50% mercury. Between 270 and 341 tonnes of dental mercury is used around the world annually, accounting for 21% of global mercury consumption. Dental mercury are said to enter the environment via several pathways, such that many children around the world are exposed to a double dose of amalgam’s mercury: first when it is implanted in their teeth and a second time when it contaminates their environment.
Nigeria is losing about a half kilometre of its land mass annually to desert encroachment and time is of essence before the entire country becomes a desert.
Desertification in Nigeria
The Director-General of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Dr Muktari Aminu-Kano, raised the alarm in Lagos on Sunday, November 18, 2018.
He made the disclosure at the 2018 edition of the Green Ball series with theme: “Green Recovery Nigeria: Restoring Mangroves and Reclaiming the Desert.”
Aminu-Kano said that mangroves were also being lost in the Niger Delta and that the nation had already lost up to 95 per cent of its forest cover.
He warned that urgent measures must be taken to curb deforestation and forest degradation to stop what he described as ugly consequences of climate change for the nation.
The NCF chief also warned on the “firewood crisis,’’ saying that the problem must be addressed to discourage use of fire wood use as cooking gas.
He stressed the need to strengthen the Green Recovery Nigeria scheme, aimed at retaining a significant proportion of Nigeria’s landmass under forest.
Aminu-Kano also called for sustained intensive awareness campaign among all tiers of governments to change the practice of tree felling to tree planting.
He noted that government must have to promote clean sources of cooking energy to protect the nation’s forests form being used as firewood.
“Green Recovery Nigeria is our push to bring the agenda that Nigeria is pathetically losing 95 per cent of its forest cover and we have only five per cent left.
“350,000 hectares of land are being lost annually to desertification and the land lost is about 0.6, which is about half a kilometre every year.
“If you think you live in Lagos and it cannot reach you, it will only take some time. Imagine the annual movement of 0.6 kilometres.’’
Chairman of the NCF Board of Trustees, Chief Philip Asiodu, in a speech, recalled that Nigeria entered an agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1988 to restore 25 per cent of its forest cover.
Asiodu said that while other African countries commenced implementation of the agreement, Nigeria had done nothing and had lost almost all its forest cover.
He noted that with increasing population, the effects of climate change were manifested through gully erosions in the South East and desertification in the Sahel.
“There is a lot of work to do to persuade the government into action,’’ he said.
The Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Environment, Mr Abiodun Bamgbose, thanked the NCF for its efforts at addressing environmental issues.
Ambode said that humanity had become vulnerable to how it treated the gift of the environment.
“The Lagos State Government does a lot of tree planting every year. All multinationals should rise and support this fight because government alone cannot do it,’’ she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that an award was presented to Mrs Ajoke Muhammed, widow of late former Head of State, Gen. Murtala Muhammed for her contributions to issues involving sustainability and preservation of the environment.
The wife of the Ogun State Governor, Dr Olufunso Amosun, also received an award for her contributions to saving the environment.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) says out of the over N41 billion disbursed for community projects in the Niger Delta, about N15 billion went to Rivers State under the Global Memorandum of Understanding.
General Manager, External Relations of SPDC, Igo Weli
“Between 2006 and end of 2017, a total of N14.86 billion has been invested by the SPDC Joint Venture in the GMoU clusters in Rivers State, giving communities a highly-valued opportunity to decide and implement projects and programmes that have a lasting impact on people’s lives,” said the General Manager, External Relations of SPDC, Igo Weli, on Saturday, November 17, 2018 in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, at the 2018 edition of the Nigerian Society of Engineers Port Harcourt Branch Week.
Weli, who spoke on the role of oil and gas sector in the infrastructure development of Rivers State, said the SPDC JV funding enabled 19 GMoU clusters in Rivers State to embark on projects covering health, education, water and power supply improvement, sanitation and infrastructure development. He added that the success of the GMoU initiative proved what could be achieved when government, international oil companies, communities and NGOs worked together for the common good.
Under the terms of the GMoU, SPDC JV provides secure five-year funding for communities to implement development projects of their choice, which are managed by Cluster Development Boards under the guidance of mentoring NGOs.
On social infrastructure, Weli listed the N1.5 billion ultramodern library donated by Shell to the state government to commemorate Nigeria’s centenary celebration, and the establishment of a Community Health Insurance Scheme at Obio Cottage Hospital in Port Harcourt where the average number of patients increased from about 600 to about 7,500 per month in 2017, making it one of the most utilised health facilities in the area. He said 10 other hospitals in Rivers State also enjoyed “robust health intervention scheme by SPDC JV”.
In education, he cited the establishment of the first centre of excellence in Marine Engineering and Offshore Technology at Rivers State University in Port Harcourt in 2017, which has commenced programmes leading to the award of master’s degrees in Marine Engineering (Power Plants), Naval Architecture and Offshore and Subsea Engineering. This, he said was in addition to the many SPDC JV scholarship schemes which date back to the 1950s.
On the statutory role of the oil and gas sector in infrastructure development in Niger Delta, Weli noted that each player in the sector was expected to contribute 3% of its annual budget to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the purpose of facilitating the rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta region into an area that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful. “Between inception of NDDC in 2002 and the end of 2017, Shell companies alone contributed N338.12billion to the commission,” he said.
He noted that the responsibility for the development of communities, societies or states resides primarily with government and community stakeholders themselves. “It stands to reason therefore that abdicating that responsibility for development to the private sector either fully or substantially is, in my assessment, one of the key issues militating against sustainable development not just of Rivers State but of the Niger Delta.”
He frowned at the expectation that private sector should take on the role of government even after fulfilling their statutory obligations to the state and investing as much as their businesses can carry in social investments in the host communities. “This is not sustainable and perhaps accounts for the steady drop or reduction in investments, hence the dwindling opportunities in employment, contracts, and so on, in the Niger Delta in the past two decades.”
Weli added: “The region is no longer very attractive to investors because of the unrealistic demand and entitlement mindset. The future of the Niger Delta is in the hands of private investors; therefore, stakeholders need to re-set their expectations and approach to achieve sustainable growth and development. Investors are to be wooed and investments, attracted, not taken for granted.”
He therefore appealed for a conducive operating environment to enable the private sector do business profitably without fear so that they could implement social investment projects and programmes.
He said: “For the private sector, including the oil and gas industry to support the state for infrastructure development, the state, as a matter of policy, and the people, as a matter of dogged commitment, must resolve to make the state peaceful, friendly, attractive and competitive.”
Ahead of World Toilet Day on Monday, November 19, 2018 and following the recent declaration of a state of emergency in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, WaterAid Nigeria has called on the Nigerian government to commence action towards prioritising sanitation for all. This follows a new report showing that the education and health of millions of children is threatened by a lack of access to toilets at school and at home.
Martina Ohaegbulem, 56, the deputy nurse in charge/midwife, showing the state of the toilets at the Zuba Primary Health Centre, Gwagwalada, Abuja, Nigeria.
“The Crisis in the Classroom”, WaterAid’s fourth-annual analysis of the world’s toilets, highlights that one-in-five primary schools and one-in-eight secondary schools globally do not have any toilets. Also, one-in-three of the world’s schools lack adequate toilets, compromising children’s human rights to sanitation and leaving them to either use dirty, unsafe pits, defecate in the open, or stay at home.
In Nigeria, 52% of schools are said to be without a toilet and around 62 million children do not have a decent toilet at home, implying that children are being dangerously exposed to illnesses that could kill them. Repeated bouts of diarrhoea presumably increase their chances of being malnourished, and sanitation-related illnesses result in missed school days and the loss of potential.
WaterAid Nigeria Country Director, Dr ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye, says: “Toilets can make the difference between a child attending school, coming late or staying at home. School attendance and participation can be greatly enhanced just by providing toilets. Schools are where children learn how to become wholesome human beings and good toilet behaviour is a fundamental, yet children are going to schools with them. It is shocking that Nigeria ranks third in the world with the greatest number of individuals with no access to a decent toilet. This is unacceptable and even more sad as it contributes to the deaths of nearly 60,000 children under five every year from diarrhoea.
“Without ongoing investment and a concerted effort from all decision-makers, children, who are amongst the most vulnerable in our society, will continue to miss out on their futures. Also, citizens need to change their behaviour and take responsibility for having decent toilets at home as much as they hold government accountable for providing this basic service. Sanitation is a basic right for all and can’t just be an ideal. It must be a priority.”
Of the 101 countries with data available on how many schools have decent toilets, Nigeria ranks 11th and Guinea-Bissau comes last in West Africa. There, eight-in10 schools lack adequate facilities. This is followed by Niger, where only 24% of schools reportedly have even basic sanitation and more than seven in ten people defecate in the open because they lack a household toilet.
Some countries are however said to be making decent toilets in schools a priority. Over half of schools in Bangladesh now have a decent toilet and shared toilets in slum areas are providing a stepping stone to better health, says WaterAid.
Among the other findings in the State of the World’s Toilets report released by WaterAid:
Children living in communities without decent toilets are at higher risk of diarrhoea. Sadly, diarrhoea caused by dirty water and poor sanitation kills 289,000 children under five each year.
Diarrhoea and intestinal infections kill nearly 140,000 children aged between five and 14 each year – many of which could be prevented with clean water, decent sanitation and good hygiene.
Across South Asia, more than a third of girls miss school for between one and three days a month during their period.
As many as one in three schools in Madagascar don’t have any functioning toilets at all. It is the third worst country in the world for access to a decent toilet at home – just one person in 10 has at least basic sanitation.
Papua New Guinea comes third in the list of countries where the proportion of people with decent toilets at home and school is decreasing. There nearly 220 children under five die each year from water and sanitation-related diarrhoea, and polio – a waterborne disease – has recently returned to the island after being eradicated in 2000.
Nearly seven in 10 schools in Zambia now have basic toilets, and three quarters of children can complete their primary education.
Tim Wainwright, WaterAid’s Chief Executive, says: “Children in every country of the world need access to safe toilets at home and at school. Their health, education and safety depend on it. Every child should be able to go to the toilet safely and with dignity whether they are at school or at home. Bringing safe toilets to the one in three schools worldwide with no adequate toilets, should be a top priority – along with bringing decent household toilets to the 2.3 billion people still waiting.
“Progress towards any of the UN Sustainable Development Goals will not be possible without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. If we are serious about all children and young people, wherever they are, whatever their gender, physical ability or community background, having their right to clean water and sanitation, we must take decisive and inclusive action now.”
According to WaterAid, this year and as in recent times, the commemoration of World Toilet Day is driven by the aim to ensure that everyone has a safe toilet by 2030, in line with one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 6. Nigeria is said to have made little or no progress in realising the target as less than a million people per year are gaining access to basic sanitation.
The 2018 World Toilet Day, themed: “When Nature Calls”, emphasises the need for exploring nature-based solutions to the current sanitation challenges Nigerians face as a nation and to provide sustainable resolutions through the functioning of natural systems.
The group says Nigeria must focus on harnessing the power of ecosystems in capturing and treating human waste to producing useful resources such as fertilisers to help grow crops. “It also means that we must not just focus on ending open defecation in Nigeria, we must also work to ensure that human waste that is captured does not still contaminate the environment and affect human health as well as livelihoods,” adds WaterAid.
“While we commend the recent launch of the National Action Plan to revitalise Nigeria’s water, sanitation and hygiene sector as a bold step in tackling the sanitation crisis, having a plan is not enough – the political will to implement it is also important.”
The organisation called for:
Prioritisation of sanitation at all levels through the value chain – capture to safe disposal – and improve budget allocations to the sector. Governments need to invest more money in sanitation and ensure an integrated approach and improved transparency in monitoring and reporting.
Education and finance ministers at state and national levels, as well as donors, to invest in sanitation services and establish credible plans for achieving universal access within an agreed timeframe.
Better coordination between key sectors ministries of to develop, implement and monitor joint programmes in order to measure the impact of interventions and contribute to data availability.
School sanitation to meet the specific needs of girls in order to ensure their privacy, safety and dignity when managing menstruation and on other school days.
School sanitation to be inclusive, enabling children with disabilities to use clean, safe, accessible toilets at school.
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) held its annual dinner tagged “Green Ball” with the theme “Green Recovery Nigeria – Restoring the Mangroves and Reclaiming the Desert” on Saturday, November 17, 2018 in Lagos.
This year’s event was used to create awareness and seek support for its Green Recovery Nigeria Initiative, while focusing on restoration of the mangroves and reclaiming the desert.
In attendance were Wife of the Ogun State Governor, Dr. (Mrs.) Olufunso Amosun, Chief Femi Olopade, Mr Odein Ajumogobia, Dame Marie Fatayi-Williams and Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, among others.
Dr. (Mrs.) Olufunso Amosun giving a response as recipient of the Environmental Stewardship AwardChief Philip Asiodu, Board of Trustees (BOT) President, NCF giving a welcome addressChief Ede Dafinone, NCF NEC Chairman with Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, former Minister of PetroleumDame Marie Fatayi-Williams appreciating the sponsorsDr. Muhtari Aminu-Kano, DG of NCF giving a speech
The Federal Government has begun the partial commercialisation of four River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) in the country.
Mr Alex Okoh, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)
Mr Alex Okoh, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), in a statement issued by Amina Othman, Head, Public Communications, BPE, on Friday, November 16, 2018 in Abuja, said the RBDAs are the Niger-Delta, Sokoto-Rima, Ogun-Osun and Upper Niger.
He said this at the kick-off meeting for the commencement of transaction advisory services by Agri-Africa Consultant A and E Law and Partnership Consortium for the partial commercialisation of the four RBDAs.
According to the statement, Okoh expressed delight at the commencement of the project, adding that the main objective of the advisory service is to restructure and reposition the RBDAs for partial commercialisation and optimum performance.
He added that the kick-off meeting was to formally introduce the advisers to the Minister of Water Resource, Mr Suleiman Adamu and other key stakeholders.
“The consortium’s scope of work is to provide the requisite advice and support required for the Federal Government to successfully implement the partial commercialisation of the RBDAs in a manner of consistent with relevant national policies, laws and international best practices.
“The consortium is expected to conduct diagnostic study on the four RBDAs, define their business objectives and develop a strategic plan to achieve its operational goals.
“It will also identify, verify, record, classify and value the key assets of the RBDAs including status of title documents of their lands.”
Okoh said in conjunction with the BPE that it would also implement the partial commercialisation of the RBDAs, develop quality management system, make chart of accounts and opening balance sheets based on internationally acceptable standards.
The consortium is also mandated to introduce operational tools developed through a one-off training and incorporate, restructure and reposition the four named RBDAs to be self-sustaining.
The Water Resources Minister, Adamu was represented at the occasion by Mr John Chigbo, Director, River Basins Authority and Inspectorate of the Ministry.
Adamu said the RBDAs project was in line with the vision of the ministry and promised to support and cooperate with the adviser in the course of the project.
Mr Chigbozu Ekwekwuo, the team leader of the consortium, said the consortium had assembled a credible team to deliver the project and make agriculture work in Nigeria.
The BPE was created through the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 1999, to diversify the economy and strengthen the private sector as Nigeria’s engine of growth and economic driver.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Usani Uguru Usani, has expressed concern over the negative impacts of environmental damage in the Niger Delta region.
Uguru Usani, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs
Usani expressed this concern at a one-day Stakeholders Validation Workshop and launching of a draft document on Niger Delta Region Climate Change Programme and Action Plan organised by the ministry.
The Minister decried a situation where communities in the region were submerged by flood with little or no action taken to address it, in a statement issued by Mr Stephen Kilebi, the Deputy Director Press of the ministry on Friday, November 2018 in Abuja.
According to him, the negative impact informed the ministry’s decision to streamline environmental policy action in the region.
He said that such environmental problems included flooding that ravaged the riverine communities, the prevalence of cancer-related ailments, the radio-active ailments as well as the soot that was in the atmosphere, especially in Rivers.
The minister decried a situation where communities in the Niger Delta region were being submerged by flood, while little or no action was taken to address the trend.
He called on relevant stakeholders to urgently device means of addressing environmental disaster that demands emergency in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta region.
He stated that all human activities were impacted as a result of climate change in the region.
“There is need to carry out sensitisation on climate change so that people will know the effect of what they go through.
“And also, that investors and economic moguls will discontinue harping on our ignorance while they make economic fortunes,’’ he said.
Usani said that the ministry would perfect the draft on climate change programme document to make it a worthy document that would guide all actions aimed at addressing environmental disasters in the region.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Aliyu Bisalla, said that climate change and global warming posed serious challenges to the region.
He noted that the pace of change was increasing, saying unless the trend was reversed, human and physical ecologies were bound to be seriously impacted.
The Chairman, Council of Traditional Rulers, Bayelsa State, King Alfred Diette-Spiff, charged the people of the region to take necessary measures to guard against more negative effects of climate change.
Corroborating Spiff’s view, the Chairman, Council of Traditional Rulers in Cross River State, Dr Etim Okon Edet, thanked the Federal Government for its development efforts in the Niger Delta region.
He advised that the ministry should inaugurate the completed housing project in Bakassi for the beneficiaries to address their housing need.
Edet also advised that the ministry should expedite action to ensure the completion of the skills acquisition centre in Akpabuyo in Cross River State.
The Lagos-based ITB Nigeria Limited has announced plans to be the first indigenous company to obtain the latest ISO 45001:2018 – Occupational Health and Safety Management System. The company made the announcements at an Essentials of ISO training held recently in Lagos. ITB will also be obtaining certifications in ISO 9001:2015 – Quality Management System and ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental Management System.
An impression of Trinity Towers being built by ITB
Described as an “innovative construction company”, ITB built Trinity Towers, Heritage Place and Azuri Peninsula.
The training facilitated by Dr. Rami Chidiac, Founder of ISO Liban, is part of the prerequisite to obtain the ISO Certification and had a lot of ITB members of staff in attendance. The training emphasised the need to ensure quality is maintained across all facet of the Company’s work process while covering topics such as Quality Management, Occupational Health and Safety, and Environmental Management Systems.
Commenting on the essence of the ISO Certification, Rami Chidiac said, “Putting a quality management system in place means that a company does the right thing right even when no one is watching and that they adhere to a set of inherent characteristics that fulfill requirements. Having an occupational health and safety management system will help organisations to minimise the risk of harm to all workers and provide a platform for continual improvement in health and safety.
Managing Director, ITB Nigeria Ltd. Mr Ramzi Chidiac on his part, added: “ITB in line with International standards has put in place all measures to plan, establish and maintain a process to handle incidents and non-conformities both in our offices and on project sites. We are also committed to a coordinated and systematic approach to managing health and safety risks. Having the ISO recognition will help us to continually improve our performance by focusing on our major operations to ensure customer satisfaction.”
ISO is the International Standardisation Organisation which assists in the improvement of business processes and responsible for the development of international standards for products, services, systems and conformity assessment procedures. The ISO system is a tool or a means of correcting errors and ensuring that they do not recur, and has a positive impact on investment, market share, sales growth and profit margins, as well as achieving competitive advantage.
