A University Don and Environmental Biochemist, Dr. Eucharia Nwaichi, has called on the relevant authorities to ensure that chemicals and other liquids imported into Nigeria are effectively regulated in terms of importation, transportation and storage.
This, she said, is due to the increase in the use of chemicals and other liquids as required by growing industries and laboratories in the quest to resolve socio-economic and environmental challenges in Nigeria.
She explained that this will among others enhance the full adoption of the ACS Code of Ethics, leading to “reduction in industrial accidents, proper management of chemical spills, a minimal experience of pipeline destruction and an end to the illegal use and handling of chemicals by criminal groups in the country”.
Dr. Nwaichi, who stated this while delivering a lead paper on the theme: “Chemical Safety and Security”, at an in-house training for staff and other users of chemicals, organized by the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences at the University of Port Harcourt, said lack of knowledge in chemicals has resulted in  its use for dangerous purposes.
”There is less education and sensitization on the issue of the Global Chemist Code of Ethics, and most Nigerians are not properly educated on the use of chemical, hence the utilization of chemicals for the production of destructive materials such as Improvised Explosive Devises”, she said.
Consequently, she called on the authorities to do the needful by checking the movement of chemical substances in the country.
“Government and her agencies must begin to do proper regulation by restricting the quantity of chemical imported into the country and ensure that the imported chemicals are of the right quantity and in the hands of those that will be using it for beneficial purposes”, she said.
While noting that there is a set of standards derived from a lot of codes around the world, the Fellow of Commonwealth and Winner of the UNESCO L ‘Oreal International Fellowship for Women in Science, made further recommendations.
According to her, “we should try to look at practictioners who either work with chemicals or products of chemical, bringing responsible science that benefits mankind.  Unthical standards of science need to be adequately reported and all practitioners need to ask questions so that they understand”.