Cleanup Nigeria campaign group has called for a special court to handle all environmental related cases in the country.
This was part of a resolution at the end of a stakeholders meeting in Port Harcourt.
The meeting was facilitated by the centre for creative development strategies; a Niger Delta-based non-governmental organisation.
The group said government should not only revisit all extant environmental laws, but also strenghtend them with a view to ensuring that they are effectively enforced.
They also stressed the need for the government to help civil societies step up campaigns with a view to ensuring environmental cleanliness across the country.
The forum also stressed the need for people to be taught the art of waste conversion to wealth.
Team leader, Cleanup Nigeria Rivers State, Mr Kingdom Nwanyanwu, blamed the indiscriminate disposal of waste on lack of awareness, adding that the campaign was to ensure that people imbibe the culture of cleanliness.
“The campaign is to re-engineer the mindset of people to imbibe the culture of cleanliness.
“Government should help the group to reach out to many people by amplifying our voice through the radio, newspaper and other media of communication.
He said the slogan for the campaign, which was “cleaner cities for healthier citizens”, was chosen to drive home the point of the relationship between diseases and dirty environment.
“Dirty environment is responsible for diseases but most city dwellers are not aware of it. That is why the cleanup Nigeria campaign was launched”.
According to him, the group is training thousands of volunteers to be environmental ambassadors.
In his word, “the objectives of the Cleanup Nigeria Campaign (CNC) project are to stop the habit of indiscriminately littering the environment, to change the behaviour of Nigerians permanently by spotlighting the problem of littering and offering creative solution on waste problem in Nigeria aimed”.
He said the team also aims to build the campaign into a national civic movement and groups to make the country waste free.
“It is our wish to organise and implement a national cleanup campaign that will involve community members, schools and government institutions to inspire and educate Nigerians on the importance of a clean environment for human health and strong economy.
Meanwhile, some waste management experts have renewed calls on Nigerians, particularly youths, to see plastic wastes as a means of wealth creation, as they can easily be sourced within their environment.
The experts made the call, in separate interviews in newsmen, in Lagos.
They added that sustainable plastic waste management of non-degradable wastes will not only create wealth and employment, but also make the environment healthier by combating pollution.
The experts included, Mr Alexander Akhigbe, Chief Executive Officer, African Clean-Up Initiative, and Mr Taiwo Adewole, Executive Director, Recycle Points.
Adewole said apart from the lack of awareness of the benefits of recycling plastic wastes, another major challenge was the logistics for collections.
“Many people get discouraged after sorting their wastes and have to go far, spend money on transportation to drop off their recyclables,” he said.
Adewole said, his organisation came up with the Drop Off Recycle Initiative (DORI) bin, where people can drop off their recyclables within their communities.
“We pick five women in each community, empower and give them the special bin where people within the community can easily drop off their recyclables and get incentives.
“We collect PET bottles, water sachets, nylons, cans, glass, aluminum and cartons. We also collect from scavengers, who we call aggregators. They collect in large numbers because they go out every day with their carts and pick whatever they see.
“Once they gather their recyclables and reach out to us, we give them the recycle bin and collect their recyclables. For 1,000 kg of plastics they get N20,000 Naira,” he said.
To Akhigbe, raising awareness of the dangers and benefits of recycling plastic wastes will impact positively on the environment.
Akhigbe, whose organisation focuses on environmental sustainability, said the organisation had carried out different projects in low-income communities.
He said the organisation’s ‘Recycles Pay Educational Project’ had helped some parents pay their children’s school fees.
“We collect water sachets, PET bottles, from parents in exchange for the fees. We have a working relationship with the schools and the fees are paid directly to the schools.
“We also have packages like ‘Bottles for Pads’ and ‘Bottles for Diapers’ initiative.

By: John Bibor