BENIN CITY – Edo State Government has said that it will continue to intensify the war against burning of wastes, particularly the types that emit corrosive and other green house gases which deplete the ozone layer.
Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Prince Clem Agba gave the assurance on Wednesday, October 28 in a key note address on the occasion of the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
“To ensure that this is sustained, there is a law to aid the prosecution of this drive. The Environmental Sanitation and Pollution Management Law No. 5 of 2010 which is already in force,” he stated.
The commissioner whose address was read by Barr. Augustine Akhuamhenkhun, a Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Environment said government has more than ever before intensified the policing of our forest reserve to prevent the indiscriminate felling of trees.
The commissioner who disclosed that the advocacy on bush burning had commenced with the visit to traditional rulers and opinion leaders in Edo North and Edo South, advised the citizens to engage the services of waste managers as it is already an offence not to do so.
“The enforcement unit of the ministry is already enlightening commercial drivers to ensure they have waste bin/basket in their vehicles as well as the campaign against littering or throwing of litters through moving vehicles,” be stated.
In his address, the Executive Director/Founder SAVE THE OZONE, NIGERIA, Ozaveshe Ade Balogun hinted that the United Nations General Assembly resolution of 1994 gave birth to the annual celebration of the “International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone layer,” saying “it is a day set aside to commemorate the signing of the montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.
According to him, the ozone layer is a shield that prevents the ultra violet rays of the sun from reaching the earth while some years ago, scientists discovered that the chlorine content in chlorofluorocarbons, mostly used in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, propellant used in insecticides, foam blowing among others were capable of depleting the ozone layer.
Balogun observed that the negative consequences of ozone layer depletion ranges from skin cancer to glaucoma, destruction of acquatic food chain, global warming, flooding, climate change, among others.
Besides, he announced that the depleted ozone layer is on its way to total recovery, because the main culprit chemical had been successfully phased out of production, just as the 2015 celebration marks the 30th year of the Vienna Convention signed in 1985 by the international communities to protect the ozone layer.
He however, commended partnership institutions such as the National Centre for Energy and Environment, University of Benin, Edo State Ministry of Environment and Public Utilities, and Federal Ministry of Environment.
He also lauded the implementing agencies of the United Nations including the United Nations Environment Programme, (UNEP)United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO).
The celebration witnessed the presentation of two papers, Adaptation and conservation options in the management of climate change by Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), University of Benin, and Ozone depletion, a threat to man: The implication of used and obsolete technology in Nigeria by Prof. Emeritus J.O.K. Audu, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Benin.
