The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to tackling the growing threat of toxic plastics and electronics and boosting the circular economy in Nigeria.
The Director General of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Innocent Barikor, said this at the inception workshop for the Circular and Persistent Organic Pollutants-free Plastics in Africa project in Abuja, organised by NESREA with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme.
The workshop was aimed at strengthening multi-stakeholder collaboration towards eliminating POPs in plastics and promoting circular economy principles in Africa.
Barikor stated that the workshop will address the environmental challenges posed by POPs in plastic materials. He said that while electronic goods bring economic benefits, they also pose environmental risks, as POPs can be released at various stages, from production to disposal.
In his keynote address, the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, said the project is an opportunity to reduce the import, production, and use of POPs in plastics-containing products, and the generation of unintentionally-produced POPs, with their attendant burdens of pollution and morbidity in the country.