Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, has called for an end to plastic pollution, describing it as an absolute catastrophe that demands a conscious and conscientious community-driven approach with global protocol to urgently reverse it.
According to the Minister, Nigeria currently is evolving awareness, conscious of its implications on its citizenry whose socio-economic survival depends on businesses and value chains around ventures related to polythene/plastic products.
“Plastic and polythene waste presents actual danger to soil and our oceans.
“The Federal Ministry of Environment is recommending phased migration to paper bags and less hazardous products.
“But this requires ‘buy in’ by States in Nigeria,” said the Environment Minister.
https://twitter.com/MohdHAbdullahi/status/1528915137125572608?t=aMFLK6etFih60Elh26zsaA&s=19
According to research, up to 23 million metric tons of plastic end up in rivers, lakes, and oceans each year, and that amount could potentially double by 2025 if nothing is done to stop it.
Once plastic enters the ocean, it can linger for decades or even centuries.
“Larger plastics can be deadly to marine animals that ingest or become entangled in them, and accumulations of smaller microplastics pose a global – and practically invisible – threat to ecosystems.
“Because this material is so pervasive and so difficult to remove from water and soil, plastic pollution fits the description of a “poorly reversible pollutant,” researchers wrote.
Amaka E. Nliam
