An ecologist, Mr Habib Omotosho, has urged the federal, state and local governments to incorporate climate change issues into their annual budgets to actualise plans to evolve low carbon society.
Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril
Omotosho, who is the National Coordinator, Environmental Advancement Initiative, an NGO, gave the advice in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday, February 1, 2018.
He said that the government at all levels needed to prioritise investments in low-carbon energy projects, particularly in the areas of cooking modes, transportation modes and clean energy options.
“To this end, private sector investments should be encouraged for the production and distribution of clean cooking technologies, low carbon travel options, such as bicycles, hybrid cars, tricycles and other low carbon or non-carbon emitting energy options.
“Nigeria has a huge economic potential; a brilliant climate and environment future that cannot be left to be ravaged by the adverse effect of climate change,’’ he said.
Omotosho also urged the government and relevant stakeholders to implement structured policies and strategies aimed at achieving low carbon growth in the country.
He said that the government and people of Nigeria should promote the evolution of green, healthy and sustainable environment which supported food and livestock production as well as clean energy production.
An environmentalist, Mr Bassey Ating, has blamed prevalence of certain health challenges in the country on the poor disposal of human waste in some neighbourhoods.
Disposal of human waste into a water body
Ating, the Programme Coordinator, Wise Administration of Terrestrial Environment and Resources (WATER), made the declaration in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, February 1, 2018.
He urged Nigerians to desist from open defecation, saying that poor disposal of human waste was one of the major threats to human health.
He said that people were also exposed to health hazards when inhaling the odour emitting from decomposing substances in their surroundings.
“Poor disposal of human waste and other toxic materials such as lead acid, asbestos products and expired paints, among others, could be a threat to human health.
“If these substances are not disposed of properly, I mean when left in the open, close to populated areas or people’s homes, they can spread diseases easily,’’ he said.
The programme coordinator said that improper disposal of toxic products could also result in the release of dangerous materials into the environment.
Ating underscored the need to stamp out open defecation in the country, saying that exposure to human excreta was very hazardous, as bacteria, viruses and parasites were often found in human waste.
He said that when people or animals defecated in the open, flies and other pests fed on the faeces and transmitted germs to the people by perching on their food substances.
He also said that faeces left in the open could be washed by rainwater into wells, streams and other sources of water which people drank.
The environmentalist particularly bemoaned the dearth of toilets or latrines in some urban centres across the country.
He, however, said that tangible efforts should always be made to keep indoor and outdoor toilet facilities clean and free from germs to avoid the spread of diseases.
“The bottom-line is that bad waste management practices can result in land and air pollution.
“This can cause respiratory problems and other adverse health effects, as contaminants are absorbed from the lungs into other parts of the body,’’ he said.
Besides, Ating said that with the increase in population and the rising demand for food and other essentials, there had been a sharp rise in the amount of waste being generated daily by households.
“The waste is ultimately thrown into municipal waste collection centres, from where it is collected by the area waste managers to be deposited at waste landfills and dumpsites.
“If the waste management and disposal system of a neighbourhood is defective, it can cause serious problems in the health of the residents and their environment,’’ he said.
He, therefore, urged stakeholders in the environment and government at all levels to re-introduce monthly environmental sanitation exercise across the nation.
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in collaboration with the UN Children’s Educational Fund (UNICEF) is partnering with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to tackle malnutrition in Kaduna State.
Malam Lawal Haruna, the NOA Deputy Director in the state, who is UNICEF’s focal person in the agency, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Thursday, February 1, 2018.
Haruna said with the partnership, corps members serving in Kaduna State would be mobilised and trained to promote maternal, adolescent, infant and young child feeding to reduce maternal and child malnutrition.
He said the corps members would be trained on basic concept of nutrition and would be educated on the nutritional status of women and children across the communities where they would carry out their primary assignments.
Haruna said they would equally be trained as drama facilitators and would be supported to identify stakeholders and community volunteers they could work with in entrenching good nutritional habits in Kaduna communities.
According to him, the corps members will play a key role of identifying and mobilising community members, and community volunteers for the promotion of adequate maternal, adolescent, infant and young child feeding practice.
“They will also be expected to divide the community volunteers into drama groups, and train the volunteers on how to use drama to mobilise and improve community members’ knowledge on good nutrition,” he said.
Haruna said the activity would be carried out in 10 selected local government areas of the state namely – Jaba, Jema’a, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Kachia, Igabi, Chikun, Kajuru and Makarfi and Lere.
The NOA boss said mobilising the corps members was crucial to winning the war against malnutrition in the state, stressing that the youths had always been the arrow head of progressive change in societies.
“This is because the youths are very energetic and form the engine room for any progressive movement as the most vibrant and active segment of the society and on whose shoulders lay the future of every society.
“We have already addressed about 1, 000 corps members currently in camp on the issue and they are enthusiastic to participate as facilitators in promoting good maternal adolescent, infant and young child feeding.
“We will be meeting them at zonal levels to give them drama orientation for effective community engagement through Theatre for Development (TFD) and other dialogue sessions,’’ Haruna said.
UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, Kaduna Field Office, Chinwe Ezeife, said working with the corps members would help to curb the prevalence of malnutrition and reduce maternal and child deaths.
“Early initiation of breastfeeding in Kaduna State is 38.6 per cent, while practice of exclusive breastfeeding is as low as 6.2 per cent and a minimum dietary diversity of 44.5 per cent.
“These, among other factors were responsible for the high level of underweight children under the age of five, which stood at 34 per cent and stunted children at 37 per cent.
“If nothing is done, eight per cent of under-five children in the state are more likely to die of severe acute malnutrition before their fifth birthday,” she said.
Ezeife expressed optimism that much would be achieved with the corps members on board in promoting good nutritional habit as part of their national service in their various communities of primary assignment.
A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Promotion for the Human Rights, on Thursday, February 1, 2018 urged the Federal Government to provide improved cassava and yam seedlings to smallholder farmers across the country.
Smallholder farmers
Williams Ozase, president of the organisation, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said that if the farmers were provided with improved seedlings, it would boost cassava and yam production in the country.
He said that the strategy would also facilitate efforts to boost the food security of the country.
Ozase said that after harvests, part of the yield could be reserved as seedlings for the next cropping season.
“Through this way, the farmers can slowly improve the quality of their varieties. Good seed selection is also vital to efforts to control plant pests and diseases,’’ he said.
Besides, Ozase said that the agricultural institutes should produce high-yielding seedlings and make them available to farmers’ cooperative societies for distribution to farmers.
He said that the cooperative societies could easily reach smallholder farmers in the rural areas, adding that the arrangement would stimulate efforts to boost agricultural production in the country.
He stressed that pragmatic efforts should be made by all the stakeholders in the agricultural sector to enhance agricultural production in order to boost the food security of the country.
Ozase urged the Federal Government to step up its plans to diversify the nation’s economy via agriculture by investing more resources in the development of agriculture, agribusiness and value chains.
He also urged the government to provide processing and storage facilities for farm produce, saying that the venture would boost agricultural production significantly.
“The government should also develop technologies through sustained research and distribute them to farmers, while building the farmers’ capacity in modern crop growing skills,’’ he said.
He said that agriculture remained the only panacea for the country’s economic problems.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has renewed its appeal to the National Assembly to use the findings of its audit reports to push for wider reforms in the oil and gas industry.
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio
The NEITI Executive Secretary, Waziri Adio, made the appeal in Abuja while receiving the members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum Upstream who were on monitoring and oversight visit to the NEITI Secretariat.
Adio explained that NEITI reports contain detailed information and data on company payments and government receipts as well as the process lapses and remedial actions required in the industry.
“We see the parliament as important partners not just because we are answerable to you and we need you to approve our budget but because our reports can and should be inputs to your important work,” he said.
Adio expressed concerns that several reports with far-reaching recommendations have been placed in the public domain with clear challenges of implementation. He urged the National Assembly to study the reports as important documents that would aid their oversight representative and law-making responsibilities.
He commended the National Assembly for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, noting that the development is in support of the mandate of NEITI, fundamental to strengthening reforms in the industry and key to promoting investments and better revenue generation.
The Executive Secretary told the legislators that NEITI’s decision to develop a new strategic plan to cover the period from 2017 to 2021 was to deepen openness and shape positively the overall governance of the sector through policy engagement, thought leadership and inter agency collaboration. He identified funding, manual data collection and human capacity development as major challenges.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Victor Nwokolo, expressed satisfaction over the impact of NEITI’s intervention in pushing for reforms in the extractive industries.
Nwokolo commended NEITI for its professionalism in the discharge of its mandate. He advised the Executive Secretary to consider as a priority the need for NEITI to work more closely with the National Assembly to advance transparency and accountability in the industry.
He explained that the visit was to review NEITI’s level of implementation of the 2017 Budget and appraise the implementation of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Nigeria in the last one year.
Nwokolo reaffirmed the commitment of his Committee to support NEITI in the discharge of its mandate.
A Bill for a law to regulate land administration and Edo State Geographic Information Service (GIS) on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 passed second reading state’s House of Assembly.
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State
Leading the debate for passage of the bill, Majority Leader, Mr Roland Asoro (APC Orhionnmwon South), said “the bill if passed, will lay to rest, all sharp practices associated with land administration in the state’’.
Asoro explained that the computerisation of all lands in the state would reduce the bureaucratic bottlenecks connected with acquisition of Certificate of Occupancy.
He added that it would also increase the internally generated revenue base of the state.
According to the leader, the computerisation of all lands in the state would provide adequate information on true ownership status of all lands in the state.
The member representing Ovia-South West, Godwin Adenomo, said that passage of the bill would ensure that Global Positioning System (GPS) services could be activated to give accurate information on any land in the state.
He explained that the bill sought to curtail the menace of illegal acquisition of lands in the state and enhance accurate data collection for land administration.
In her contribution, Mrs Elizabeth Ativie advocated that the agency that would handle the computerisation of all lands in the state should be under the supervision of Ministry of Lands and Survey.
According to her, it is to ensure desired results and eliminate duplication of responsibility.
Many lawmakers unanimously supported the passage of the bill.
In his remarks, the Speaker, Mr Kabiru Adjoto, said that passage of the bill would ensure computerisation of all lands and put all communities in the state on the map for easy identification.
He referred the bill to the Committee on Rules, Business and Government for further input ahead of its passage.
Meanwhile, the House adopted a motion calling on local government councils in the state to perform their function of naming streets and numbering of houses as enshrined in the fourth schedule of the 1999 Constitution.
Kenya on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 unveiled ethanol stoves for refugees in Kakuma Camp in Northwest part of the country to help mitigate climate carbon emissions.
Environment Principal Secretary, Charles Sunkuli (centre), tries out an ethanol stove in Nairobi on January 31, 2018 during the launch of phase II of the Samsung Ethanol Stove Project. The Ministry of Environment has pledged to support the use of ethanol stoves. Photo credit: Salaton Njau / Nation Media Group
The Principal Secretary for Environment and Forestry, Charles Sunkuli, said the stoves launched in partnership with electronics firm, Samsung, would help reduce dependency on charcoal in the camp.
“The project will help reduce carbon dioxide emission in the country by more than 500,000 tonnes in the next five years,’’ Sunkuli said during the launch in Nairobi.
He said the camp that had 200,000 refugees would benefit from a subsidy of 12,000 eco-friendly ethanol stoves.
The official said that Kenya was in the process of formulating a new climate change action plan from 2018 to 2022, that would guide the country in actions that would deliver on an obligation of the climate change Act 2016.
About 80 per cent of Kenyans who live in urban areas use charcoal for cooking, thus putting a lot of pressure on the households from respiratory related diseases as well as adverse effects on the forest cover.
About 10 kilogrammes (kg) of wood is used to make one Kg of charcoal that is putting a lot of strains on the country’s forests.
The country in 2015, estimated a loss of 5.6 million trees daily due to deforestation.
“The use of ethanol for this cooker instead of charcoal will enable households benefit from an eco-friendly environment with less smoke, while reducing their cooking fuel costs and cooking time,’’ Patricia Kingori, Samsung Electronics East Africa’s Head of Marketing and Citizenship, said.
Kingori said that there was the urgent need to create a healthy environment for future generations through projects that significantly address the rate of deforestation and carbon emissions.
The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) says it has reviewed its operational policy to meet best global practices.
Director-General and CEO of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba
Head of Communication, NBMA, Mrs Gloria Ogbaki, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 in Abuja, the federal capital city.
Ogbaki said the reviewed policy was in “tandem with NBMA Act and emerging biosafety issues which are in line with modern biotechnology’’.
She assured that the agency was poised to ensure holistic implementation of the policy to engender effective biosafety management in the country.
The spokesperson recalled that the 2006 National Biosafety Policy was reviewed by the agency in conjunction with relevant stakeholders and MDAs, and aligned with the NBMA Act 2015.
“The reviewed policy was presented by the Minister of Environment to the Federal Executive Council and it has graciously become the new biosafety policy for the country,’’ Ogbaki said.
She reiterated the agency’s commitment to ensure certified genetically modified foods and crops are safe for people and the environment in line with the new biosafety policy.
According to her, the establishment of the agency was not to stop the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) but to ensure its safety for Nigerians with no adverse effect on humans, plants, animals and the environment.
“The agency would continue to carry out its vision which states that: The National Biosafety Management Agency is to ensure that the practice, processes and procedures, of Modern Biotechnology, is undertaken within the limits of regulatory systems.
“Such systems would guarantee its safe use, protects Nigeria’s biodiversity and provides minimum risk to human health, animals, plants and the environment, for the good of Nigerians,’’ she said.
Early intervention and strong political will to fight against environmental hazards have helped Côte d’Ivoire avert what would have been a damaging toxic dumping tragedy, says a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) audit report.
Public protest against the Probo Koala waste dump in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in 2006
The audit report, presented on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at the Bamako Convention COP2 assembly in Abidjan, lauded the timely intervention of the Ivorian government with measures to mitigate what would have been the worst environmental disaster in the country.
“It is reassuring to see that, with early intervention and strong political will, a disaster like the chemical contamination incident in Côte d’Ivoire can be mitigated over time,” UN Environment Deputy Executive Director, Ibrahim Thiaw, said.
“This independent and scientific environmental audit of the sites gives us access to a vault of best practices and pitfalls of the disaster response, and allows us to learn from a tragedy like this,” he added.
The UNEP regional director for Africa, Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, noted that though there was general lethargy in most African countries to implement the Bamako Convention on preventing Africa from becoming the dumping ground for toxic waster, the example from Côte d’Ivoire shows that innovative pathways can bring lasting solutions once there is a clear political will.
“We are proud of the measures put in place by the government of Côte d’Ivoire to fight against toxic waste dumping and environmental pollution,” she noted.
It will be recalled that national and international civil society organisations decried the illegal dumping of toxic waste in and around Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, six years ago by a multinational company, Trafigura.
Different organisations had published reports including documentation of various illnesses people in the areas where such dumping were taking place have been suffering from as a result of the dumping of toxic waste in their communities.
But the good news is that the Ivorian government reacted promptly to ward off what experts say would have been the worst environmental disaster in the entire West Africa.
The UN Environment thus conducted an independent audit of the sites affected by the 2006 waste dumping from the Probo Koala in various parts of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
According to the audit, multiple innovative actions were put in place just on time by the government.
The audit noted that, in reality on August 19, 2006, the Probo Koala, chartered by shipping firm Trafigura, offloaded 528 cubic metres of liquid waste in the port of Abidjan. The waste was then transferred onto tanker trucks operated by a local contractor and dumped in 12 different locations around Abidjan.
Hours after the dumping, residents reported being overwhelmed by a strong smell and experiencing detrimental health effects such as respiratory difficulties and skin irritations.
As a precautionary measure, the Ivorian government ordered the closure of schools in affected areas and the destruction of fruits and vegetables grown near dumping sites.
Livestock raised in proximity to some sites was also culled while fishing was banned in the bays of the Ébrié Lagoon.
In other measures the government provided medical assistance and facilities to over 100,000 people affected just weeks immediately following the dumping.
A series of clean-ups began in September 2006 and saw the sites excavated and the toxic materials shipped to France for incineration.
In the following years, several further clean-up and remediation activities were conducted by various actors including the Ivorian government.
According to the audit report, the swift mitigation measures taken by the Ivorian government paid off.
In January 2017, UN Environment conducted a follow-up mission to carry out complementary sampling and to fill specific analytical gaps and to corroborate initial findings from the laboratory analysis.
In both missions, the UN experts were joined in the field by three experts from the Ivorian Anti-Pollution Centre (CIAPOL).
The results obtained showed that none of the dumping sites had contamination exceeding the limits set by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire for remediation.
As a result, none of these sites requires additional intervention, even when gauged against Dutch intervention values, which are among the most commonly used guidelines for contaminated site management and remediation worldwide.
It also showed that elevated levels of chromium were observed in soil and water at the site in Agboville where maize that was potentially, and indirectly, impacted by the Probo Koala wastes was deposited.
As a result, the UN Environment recommended further assessment and close monitoring of the Agboville site and the continuation of restrictions imposed on public access to the facility, as well as the erection of signs to warn the public against harvesting grass or vegetables from the premises.
It also calls for due diligence for the decommissioning of the Akouédo municipal waste disposal site, which has long been earmarked for closure.
In the meantime, UN Environment recommends consideration of land use restrictions, in particular for agriculture on the site.
Based on the contamination levels at the Koumassi site, UN Environment calls for a comprehensive environmental assessment of the area to be undertaken as a basis for an action plan to mitigate impacts on public health.
It further urges the government to ensure that workers are provided with personal protection equipment and trained on occupational health.
The study shows that ocean warming in 2017 has occurred in most parts of the world, even though the Atlantic and the oceans of the southern hemisphere (south of 30°) have been more impacted by this phenomenon.
The ocean plays many roles in the climate process. As a carbon pump, it absorbs about a third of the world’s CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions. It is also a thermal buffer: it stores huge quantities of heat which it then transports according to its movements, currents and its depths.
It is partly because of the ocean that climate change has not accelerated further than it has today and global average temperature rise of the atmosphere is not higher than it is. IAP CAS researchers say that more than 90% of Earth’s climate-related heat is absorbed by the oceans.
The results of the new study partly reiterate the November 2017 World Meteorological Organisation’s provisional publication which said: “Global sea surface temperatures are on track to be among the three highest on record. Global ocean heat content in 2017 to date has been at or near record high levels.”
The Atlantic and Southern hemisphere oceans (south of 30°) have been warmer than the Pacific and Indian oceans. The Atlantic Ocean (north of 30°) and the Southern Ocean experienced higher temperature rises than the period 1981-2010.
Rising ocean temperatures have serious consequences. For example, water expands when it is warmer, adding to sea-level rise. Sea levels rose by 1.7 mm in 2017. Warmer seas also mean less oxygen for the ocean, coral reef bleaching and the melting of land and sea ice.
