Following the commemoration of World Environment Day last Monday, Professor of Wildlife and Biodiversity Conservation at Rivers State University, Godfrey Akani, has called for the enforcement of extant laws as a way of improving the environment in the state.
Akani told The Tide in an exclusive chat, in Port Harcourt, that the state has good environmental laws but needs to strengthen enforcement to curb the rise in various activities that abuse and degrade the environment.
“We need to enforce the laws, if really we want an improved and better environment. Imagine people disposing wastes in drains and some dumping wastes along the road. I think the law should be enforced, so that when some people start seeing others being arrested and prosecuted on television, they will take caution,” he suggested.
Urging the citizens to be environmentally responsible, the university don also called on multinational companies to adhere to relevant laws by ensuring that their wastes are disposed without harm to the environment.
Commenting on the recent sooth that overtook most part of Port Harcourt and environs in the last few months, Akani blamed the situation on poor environmental regulation and monitoring, noting that, “before the sooth, there have been lots of environmental challenges. We have poor waste management, oil spills arising from sabotage and equipment failure and incessant pollution from chimneys of industries, even in the abattoirs; there are a lot of pollutants”.
He, therefore, suggested the need for what he described as detection of “point sources”, arguing that an environmental audit can only succeed with adequate funding of research in universities and other institutions.
The Environmental Biology expert warned that if the current posture was maintained, the livelihood of the people will be affected.
“The incessant pollution is impoverishing the fishermen in the Niger Delta. Some people who depend on shell fish will suffer because those periwinkles and oysters will all die”, he argued.
Akani maintained that the environment was important to both man and animals, and therefore, deliberate measures should be taken by government, companies and individuals to protect and preserve it, “or we face dire consequences in the future”.