The National President, Environmental Association of Nigeria, EMAN, Prof. Valerie Chinedu Nodu, FEMAN has called for a Multi-disciplinary approach involving all stakeholders in combatting the numerous challenges bedeviling the Nigerian environment to make it more habitable and safe for the future generation.
Nnodu made the call on Wednesday in Kano during the opening ceremony of the 2021 EMAN annual conference, held in Bayero University, Kano, BUK, an event schedule to hold from 7th-11th September 2021.
According to her, to tackle unfavorable events that ends in disasters such as flooding, environmental Pollution, exposure to toxic substances can best be addressed where everyone within their space realize that most of these problems are man made and there is the need for attitudinal change, then these issues would be half solved.
“Must of the problems we are experiencing in our living environment are caused by man and we want everyone to begin to think on what he or she has being doing wrong and think of how to solve the problem”
Valerie Stated that “It is not that we are not knowledgeable, it is not that we do not have the regulations, our problems lies with the level of environmental consciousness and attitudes, we hope that through this conference, we would sensitize the people to be more aware and realize that these harmful individual attitudes toward the environment and cooperate institutions are the cause of the challenges”
Speaking at the occasion, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, represented by the state Commissioner of Environment, Dr Kabiru Ibrahim Getso said, no doubt the country is faced with numerous environmental challenges such as erosion, desertification exposure to lead, deforestation climate change amongst others.
To address these he said, the State Government has been according priority attention to the environment Sector especially on the issues of biodiversity, conservation, restoration of degraded lands, addressing climate issues and fight against the menace of desertification and desert encroachment.
“We are not unaware of the quantum and magnitude of the environmental problems bedeviling our society today and that is why Kano Government accords priority attention to the sector”.
Some of our intervention programs include; setting up of Kano State Afforestation Agency, we have keyed into the National Great Green Wall Project and presently, actively participating in the Nigera Erosion and Watershed Management Project and most recently the State entered into a 20 years public-private partnership with a private company (CapeGate) in order to ensure efficient Municipal Solid Waste Management among many other intervention programs to address the problems.
Gov. Ganduje assured that the Kano State Government is ready and fully committed to partner and support EMAN in the collective efforts towards prevention and ameliorating the various environmental predicaments faced within the State and the Country at large.
“Let me assure you that the Kano State Government is ready and committted partner with you and support you towards overcoming these environmental challenges here in Kano and Nigera at large” he added.
In his keynote address, Prof Edwin Osawe Iguisi listed the challenges of the Nigerian Environment to include; Pollution, global warming, overpopulation and waste disposal.
Others are; ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity, deforestation, ozone layer depletion, acid rain, public health issues and poor governance.
According to Osawe, to ensure environmental sustainability, laws policies and regulations such as contained in the 1999 constitution of the Republic of Nigeria pursuant to section 20 of the Constitution must be enacted to regulate how we use the environment so that it remains healthy as the State is empowered to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wildlife of Nigeria.
Furthermore, he said lack of implantation of strategy to regulate practice and urban plans, inadequate enforcement of laws and regulations governing the use of Environment, insufficient planning and monitoring mechanism and absence of EIA for some major projects are some of the major factors contributing to the challenges of the Nigerian Environment which government at all levels and other stakeholders must join hands together to address.