Members of the public have been urged to take care of their environment to reduce the number of sicknesses arising from unhealthy surroundings.
The advice came from members of the Waste Management Society of Nigeria WAMASON, Rivers State with their Akwaibom State counterparts on the occasion of the World Environment Day, with the theme, Inspired by Nature, for climate, for our future.”
The Councillors of the two States, Dr Williams Iyama and Dr Anietie Ekpenyong along with members gathered at Raycon Environmental Services, in Akwaibom State, situated in kilometre 7, East/West Road, which has the only landfill in the whole of the country to commemorate the Day.
According to Iyama and Ekpenyong, ” What we give to the environment is what we get. If government can delve into waste management and partner with competent private sector, that is when they will succeed.
One of the climax is that the Rivers State Council and the brother, that is the Akwaibom State Council had to visit this place to tap knowledge and inspirations. This year’s world environment day is unique because in the last 3years, this is the first time we are having a shift out of plastic. We entered into issues of climate change which of course, even plastic is one of them.”
The Managing Director of Raycon Environmental Services, Mr. Festus Asowata who hosted the professionals, commended them for their efforts on issues of wastes but urged them to come up with effective solutions to the challenges of waste management, especially in Rivers State and on all levels of government to check groundwater contamination which he said was responsible for many ailments and outbreaks.
Asowata said, “The World is circular because whatever you do in the environment finds a way to come back to you. So, we must take care of the environment because the majority of what we take come from the environment. We see what is happening in Bornu State, they call it cholera. It boils down to pure sanitation and it is important that the government takes these things seriously to reduce the cost of health and save the citizens. We need to protect the ground water because that is where we drink from.”
Also present was the National Publicity Secretary of the Waste Management Society of Nigeria, Mr Benson Abu who hailed the establishment in the South South, the only engineering landfill in Nigeria, urging the government to enable the private sector to thrive with good policies while he proposed a slogan of “WAMASON, Waste to Wealth.”
Abu said,” If we have this engineering landfill, in each of the political zones, it will go a long way to keep Nigerin as one of the environmentally sound countries. And I am advocating, if government wants the private sector to do this, thd government should come up with policies that will enable businesses thrive.”
The Environmentalists called for the depoliticization of environmental issues, for a progressive change in the sector.
