NIGERIA has built strong framework for Environmental Protection… Minister
Nigeria has strengthened its capacity to achieve environmental governance in the country, so says the Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Jibril.
The Minister who made the disclosure while addressing the 6th Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Da Nang, Vietnam said, “The Federal Government of Nigeria has put in place relevant institutional arrangements and mechanisms, including legal framework, to address various environmental problems facing our country.”
He also said the Nigerian government was working with the private sector as well as promoting innovation in the environment sector to achieve the desired goals, emphasizing that, “We are providing enabling environment for private sector participation and partnership in environmental sustainability. We are promoting circular economy and clean technologies that will drive research, eco-innovation and actions in various areas, including climate change mitigation and adaption measures. We have initiated the Sovereign Green Bond to raise funds to address environmental problems.”
He further stated that Nigeria was focused on programmes and initiatives that will not only protect the environment but also create wealth. “The Government has initiated the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme to encourage industry to shift to closed-cycle manufacturing and efficient take-back schemes for remanufacturing and recycling. This is in line with the tenets of green economy and circular economy in which the use of materials and generations of waste are minimized, and waste is recycled or reused as raw material, and any remaining waste treated in a way that causes minimal damage to the human health and the environment,” he said.
On the clean up of Ogoni land, the minister had this to say, “Let me use this opportunity to reiterate government’s commitment to the clean-up of Ogoniland and the rest of Niger Delta in the South-South Zone of Nigeria following decades of negative environmental impacts due to oil exploration and exploitation activities. We have established the Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project (HYPREP), appointed a coordinator, and put in place a Governing Council (GC) and the Board of Trustees (BoT). In addition, free medical services and potable water are being provided to the communities. It is expected that the actual clean-up exercise will commence between August and September 2018 after the conclusion of the on-going procurement process.”
While thanking GEF for its support in the efforts to tackle environmental crimes in the country, the minister urged the international body to increase its grant to the West Africa Coastal Constituency of GEF, which Nigeria belongs to.