FG Moves To Check Toxic Imports

The Federal Government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on High Toxic substances management Project has unfolded plans to develop capacity for agencies to check the importation of equipment carrying toxic waste.

The Co-ordinator of the project, Mrs Stella Mojekwu who disclosed this in Abuja recently in an interview with newsmen said the project also known as Polychlirinated Bipheny (PCBs) belongs to the class of organic compounds found to be five-resistant, stable and non-conducive to electricity and with low volatility under normal conditions.

Equipment containing PCBs include transformers, capacitors, ballasts, paint addictives and hydraulic fluid additives.

Mojekwu said that developing the capacity building among officials of the National Environmental Standards and regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) as well as the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) for enforcement and compliance was sacrosanct to the elimination of the importation and use of toxic substances.

According to her, “the project was also aimed at ensuring the  replacement and eradication of toxic elements in the country before 2025”.

She explained that PCB free equipment would function better than those with PCBs, adding that such equipment had been tested in other countries and proven to function better without toxic substances.