The Nation Newspaper

Tag: safe environment

  • ‘Ensure pupils are taught in safe environment’

    The National President of  Private Education Development Association of Nigeria (PEDAN), Mr. Festus Awodoyin, has urged school proprietors to ensure that pupils are taught in a safe environment.

    Awodoyin, who spoke to The Nation in Ajegunle, Lagos, yesterday on the building collapse which occurred last week at Ita Faji, Lagos Island, said it was the responsibility of proprietors to make sure that pupils received lessons in a conducive environment.

    He said: “We, proprietors, should not only be concerned about making money. The welfare and safety of our pupils should be of concern to us. We should make sure that the buildings of our schools are secure.”

    The PEDAN National President said although the proprietor of the affected school, Ohen Private Nursery and Primary School, Lagos Island, was not a member of their association, “plans are on to make our members accessible to loans through cooperative societies to enable them buy land and build  structures that will be of high quality, thus preventing building collapse.”

    He implored the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to ensure that schools are located in a safe environment.

    Dr. Comfort Ojikutu-Esebamen, a member of PEDAN’s Board of Trustees (BoT), sympathized with the families of those who lost their loved ones.

    She said: “As a mother, I know the trauma they are passing through. I pray that the Almighty God will give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

    “The government should monitor private schools and ensure that they are located in secure places to prevent calamity like the one which occurred on March 13 on Lagos Island.”

    Mrs Ojikutu-Esebamen said PEDAN’s unified examination, which had been well prepared for, would hold today in all the education districts in Lagos State.

    PEDAN’s BoT Chairman, Rev. Usen Effiong Usen, condemned poorly built schools, saying proprietors should make sure their pupils are accommodated in a good environment.

    Dr. Usen, who commiserated with those who lost relations in the Lagos Island building collapse, hailed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and Governor-elect Babajide Sanwo-Olu for showing concern to the survivors and their families.

  • Ambode’s wife seeks safe environment for children

    Wife of Lagos State Governor Mrs Bolanle Ambode has urged stakeholders in child development to create a safe environment for children to thrive and exhibit their individual talents.

    She gave the advice at the Lagos State Children’s Day Party organised by the Ministry of Youth and Social Development at Ndubuisi Kanu Park, Alausa, Ikeja.

    Mrs Ambode, who was represented by the wife of a lawmaker, Mrs Mojisola Olulade, said it is important for parents and other concerned stakeholders to always prevent them from being abused.

    According to her, there was the need for the parent to get involved in the activities of their children, teach them the correct information about their private organs, know their movements and be familiar with their friends.

    She said a safe environment would help the children to develop a positive attitude to life.

    Commissioner for Youth and Social Development Agboola Dabiri said children are special and represent love, hence the need to make them happy at all time.

    He urged parents to pay attention to their children in order to earn their trust.

     

  • ‘How Lagos is ensuring safe environment’

    Lagos State Ministry of the Environment said it has repositioned the environment to make it more liveable. Its introduction of new waste management system will be the game-changer in the country. But how well has the ministry faired in the last one year? MUYIWA LUCAS reports. 

    For the Lagos State Commissioner for the environment, Mr. Babatunde Durosimi-Etti, getting the state residents to adjust to the new waste management system has remained daunting. Since the commencement of the new waste management reforms, concerted efforts have been on to reassure the populace cleaner environment.

    The commissioner, who last week, reeled out his ministry’s efforts at maintain cleaner environment in the last one year, assured Lagosians of government’s commitment to clean, healthy and liveable environment.

    Solid waste management

    According to Durosinmi-Etti, said Lagos State was painstakingly addressing the challenges associated with increasing population, infrastructural gap and investment in the environment sector through the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI), which, he said, had been updated for greater efficiency.

    He emphasised that the new system of Solid Waste Management in the state had berthed a truly private-sector-run and technology-driven sub-sector to the state’s economy, creating new businesses and job opportunities for the people.

    According to him, the state had entered a new dimension with the engagement so far, of 13,958 Community Sanitation Workers, who would now be supervised by the Ministry of the Environment for the sweeping of inner streets in the 377 political wards of the state.

    He explained that the ongoing reform in the sector, Waste Collector Operators (WCOs), otherwise known as the PSP operators, has now been charged with the responsibility of managing residential and general waste collection, while Visionscape Sanitation Solutions was, henceforth, mandated to implement waste management infrastructure development across the state, in addition to intervening in public waste collection to cover any service lapses that may occur.

    As part of the reform, he said the Lagos State Public Works Corporation would oversee drainage management across the state, while the state Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) and the Public Utilities Monitoring and Assurance Unit (PUMAU) would both focus on enforcement and monitoring, while Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) would handle the enforcement of law against illegal dumping and fly-tipping, and PUMAU would track and control the payment of fees as well as supervise collection operations.

    The Commissioner also disclosed that the Epe landfill site, under construction by Visionscape, was achieving remarkable progress, especially with the completion of the weigh-in Bridge, among other facilities, while Portland Energy and Power was mobilising to site for the commencement of work on Erikiti Engineered Hazardous Landfill in Badagry.

    “The Transfer Loading Stations (TLS), which are under construction in Agege, Oshodi, Lagos Island (Tapa), in addition to Waste Depots at Mushin and Ogudu, have attained over 80 per cent completion. On completion, these facilities will enhance the turn-around time of waste compactors to further ease the waste challenge,” he said.

    He stressed that the promotion of waste recycling as a waste reduction strategy, was critical to the attainment of clean, healthy and liveable environment, adding that the state government had registered 398 recycling related facilities, while 2, 874, 319kg material ranging from cartons, cans, pet bottles, papers, among others, had been recovered and recycled within the last one year.

     

     Water initiative

    Durosimi-Etti explained that the government is determined to sustainably meet the potable water demand of the people. This, he explained, is why the administration of Governor Aknwunmi Ambode rapidly increased access to safe drinking water by adding 10 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) to bring water supply to 220MGD.

    He said that the major boost in water supply was achieved through the massive investment in water infrastructure, capacity enhancement of existing waterworks and building of new ones.

    Besides, he revealed that the state government had completed the rehabilitation of 48 Mini-Waterworks in different parts of the state, including Ikeja, Surulere, Onikan, Epe, Ikorodu, Dolphin, Ajangbadi, Victoria Island, VI Annex, Lekki, Ikoyi, Ojo, Igando, Badore, Ikate, Apapa, Coker Aguda, Magodo, Meiran, Isheri Osun, Alexandra, Eredo, Somolu, Ojokoro, and Iwaya.

    “This is in addition to the rehabilitation of the major waterworks of Iju and Adiyan Phase I with 45 MGD  and 70 MGD capacity,  respectively,  as well as the ongoing construction of the 70MGD Adiyan Water Treatment Plant Phase II to  supply water at their optimal capacities. Others are the 4 MGD Ishasi waterworks; the 2MGD Imeke Iworo waterworks, both of which will serve the corridors of Mile 2, Owode, Barracks, Alaba International, Old Ojo Road, Ajangbadi, parts of Badagry and adjoining communities,” he said.

    Durosimi-Etti said to achieve greater efficiency and water supply management, government had deployed the required technology and administrative measures, chief among were: installation of 13,800 pre-paid meters to ensure accurate billing in some parts of state such as Lekki, Victoria Island, Surulere, Itire, Iwaya, Ikeja etc.

    There was also the procurement of leak-detection equipment for network intelligence and distribution teams to minimise water wastages and forestall leakages; and the refurbishment of generating sets as well as the installation of 33KV panel and accessories at Akute intake pumping station to serve as alternative power supply.

    “To keep track of all water facilities spread widely across the state, Mr. Ambode’ Administration has introduced Asset Management Plan as well as Geographic Information System(GIS) to enable us locate, track, maintain and replace key fixed assets,” he added.

     

    Stronger legislation

    Durosinmi-Etti affirmed that Lagos had strengthened its regulatory agencies to enforce compliance to standard and regulations, and curb all unsanitary behaviour by applying the required penalties, adding that monitoring, enforcement and compliance activities of the ministry and its agencies had improved in steering the state towards environmental sustainability.

    He said the ministry has continued to monitor industrial facilities based on indicators such as Chemical Storage Permit, Environmental Audit Report, Petroleum Storage, Solid Waste Management and the use of Personal Protective Equipment etc.  He explained that 63 percent of the 81 industrial facilities monitored in the last one year were satisfactory while 38 percent were unsatisfactory. This this end, the state, he further revealed, has issued non-compliance notices to 209 facilities due to their recurring environmental issues.

    According to him, 76 per cent of the 4,378 tenements and 597 private facilities monitored for compliance to wastewater policy of the state government were served abatement notices while 60 per cent of 1, 185 complaints received on noise pollution were abated.

    For the enforcement of Environmental Laws, he explained that operatives of the LAGESC arrested a number of 2, 097 environmental offenders, comprising illegal street traders, hawkers, highway pedestrian defaulters, environmental nuisance polluters and cart-pushers. 136 offenders were engaged in communal service across the metropolis while others were arraigned for prosecution in line with the law at the Samuel Ilori Court, Ogba and Special Offences Mobile Court, Oshodi.

    Certainly, the race to a safer environment cannot be over emphasised, especially with the associated concerns of climate change.

  • Relevance of trees to safe environment

    Relevance of trees to safe environment

    The Kyoto Protocol, 1997, was a commitment made by the international community to reduce greenhouse house gas, GHG, emissions. Linked to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, UNCCC, it recognizes that most of the issues of climate change today were caused by the developed world, and therefore places a big chunk of the burden of the mitigation of climate change on the shoulders of these industrialized nations.
    In the first commitment phase 37 countries signed the protocol to act in concert with the international community to reduce GHG by 5%. Nigeria did not sign but eventually did in December 2004 just one year before the Protocol began to be enforced. Our reason for not signing was that since the industrialized nations contributed more to warming up the planet, they should do more to reduce global warming.
    On the face of it, Bob Etemiku’s book, Mamud & the Moringa Tree, is a book for children. But beneath the cool shade of the protagonist, (the Moringa Tree) and its friendship with its co-protagonist,(Mamud) lie deep issues related to the relevance of trees and climate change.
    Set in the fictional village of Kasa, and narrated in simple language in the 3rd person, the author tells a simple story of the friendship which existed between a little boy and a tree, the Moringa. Apart from having proven nutritional potentials (Chapter 11…Moringa is revealed), the tree represents the gamut of nature and its symbiotic relationship with humanity. While human beings exhale carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen, the tree mops up all the green houses we exhale and gives us oxygen. Like human beings, trees have MR. NIGER D, (Chapter 10…Mamud talks about his tree).
    Unfortunately for Mamud, just about when his relationship with the tree had begun to blossom, and has attracted the attention of foreigners and scientists from Europe, tragedy struck. The tree is chopped up, to pave the way for the ‘development’ of a hotel in the village of Kasa.
    But the denouement comes in the reversal in the fortunes of Mamud. Before his tree begins to grow again and play ‘treeball’ with the other trees in the dead of night, there is a policy reversal. The authorities decide that trees would no longer be cut, paving the way for more to be planted so as to use them to suck up the dirty air (carbon monoxide), which destroys the ozone layer.
    If there are considerations to introduce children in primary 6 and JSS1 to issues of climate change, Mamud & the Moringa Tree is it. The book has fourteen short chapters, with gray-scale illustrations.It presents questions against each chapter, with a section at the end of the book for vocabulary development. Over all, the book teaches children to respect and form a relationship with nature.
    However, what seems to be a major setback with Mamud & the Moringa Tree is the author’s reluctance toadapt the book into a comic strip. At this time and age where children have access to mobile phones, iPod and tablets as instructional materials, the author would do very well to engage the services of a multimedia expert to adapt this unusual book to an e-book or comic.As a matter of fact, if the Ministry of the environment were to lay their hands on this book, they can use it as a tool to reach children in the remotest parts of Nigeria just for the sake of getting children early on to realize the value of trees to our environment.