Senate Committee Tasks NESREA On Pollution

The National Environmental Standard and Regulation and Enforcement Agency (NESREA), has been urged to ensure that industries complied with environmental standards to reduce pollution in the country.

Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Sen. Benedict Ayade, made the call during an oversight visit to the agency recently in Abuja.

Ayade said that the agency, saddled with regulation and enforcement of environmental standards had not done much to tackle key areas of environmental issues in the country.

He said that the agency should create more awareness of its functions by carrying out more field works rather than operating in the office.

He urged the agency to take drastic actions against some cement factories polluting the air because of the health implication on the people.

“ Your agency must enforce laws on cement factories that emit pollutants to the atmosphere and we have noted that most of the cement companies lack hydro chamber to control these pollutants.

“I have not seen one standard hydro chamber in Nigeria, so how do we prevent all these pollutants into the air that we breathe in. These are critical areas that you need to capture as a major focus in 2012.’’

Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Sen. Bukola  Saraki, commended the agency for establishing lots of projects within the five years of its existence.

“I will commend your agency for the new initiatives of creating lots of projects, in spite of the little budgetary allocation to tackle environmental degradation across the country,’’ he said.

The Director General of the agency, Mrs Ngeri Benebo, said that some of the challenges facing the agency were insufficient funding for environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement programmes.

Benebo said that the agency was also faced with delays of environmental crime cases in courts and the need to build the operational headquarters complex of the agency.

She sought the continued support and cooperation of the Senate Committee to enable the agency achieve its goals.