Tina Amanda
A Professor of Environmental Sciences, Oluandah Wai-Ogosu has called on Nigerians to join hands in the campaign against climate change to tackle its negative impact on the environment.
Professor Wai-Ogosu made the call while speaking on the topic, “Climate Change: Youth and Community Action for Mobilization”, during an Ogoni Youth summit on Climate Change and Soot, organized by Lekeh Development Foundation in partnership with NAWOJ Rivers State, at Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori in Khana local government area.
He maintained that several emissions into the atmosphere such as, bush and waste burning, incomplete combustion amongst others, create more damage to the environment resulting to soot.
The Professor of Environmental Science, however, called on government, Civil society organisations, private and public sector to join hands to moderate development, as to improve the quality of emissions, which is the major cause of soot in the state.
“We have been having soot for quite a long time, we live in an environment that the water is acidic, alkaline when the atmosphere get so congested it emits out, soot have created so much problem in the state.
“All these materials sent into the atmosphere either from the industries or the transport sector cause problems, because the transport sector is a major culprit in producing soot which is the outcome of incomplete combustion and lot of other activities, all we need do is to improve the technology.
“Industrial development in the world is adding some pressure on the environment. Anything that is sent to the environment that changes the natural composition will create more damage to the sustainability of the environment.
“Today we see the impact of industries on the environment either from the exploitation stage or the processing stage or the production stage. All industry’s, the cement, petro-chemical all of them are sending things into the environment either by way of solid waste, the waste could be hazardous or toxic, by liquid waste which could be harmful to organisms and the air.
“If you look at the asphalt plants we have all over the places, the emissions are coloured, the emissions have lots of particles in them, but if the technology are improved you have more asphalt plants that are friendly to the environment.”
Professor Wai-Ogosu said government should setup regulations and laws to monitor the activities of industries.
“One way to moderate development is to ensure designs that are carried out before an industry is started has all the safety control measures that would for instance improve the quality of emissions sent out to the atmosphere. That is industrial responsibility.
“Government can now enforce that by developing regulations and laws that are implementable so the activities of industries especially private sector can be monitored.”
He further advocated for environmental plot to be created by individuals, communities, government in their various areas, as an alternative to dispose waste which can be converted to wealth, rather than the continuous burning of waste that goes back to the atmosphere and destroys the environment.
