FG urged to handover waste management to private sector

For Nigeria to effectively address the menace of poor waste management, government has been urged to allow the involvement of the private sector. 

The Head of Geography Department, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Prof. Nasiru Idris, gave the advice during a field trip of postgraduate students from the Environmental Department to Usuma Dam. 

While conducting the students on the trip tagged “Environmental Sustainability in the Federal Capital Territory and Its Environs,” Prof Idris said in the developed world, waste management was handled by the private sector from waste collection, distribution to discharging.

He said water pollution which was a global problem, as a result of improper disposal of waste, saying,   “In FCT, it has been designed based on a modern concept, on that basis most of the discharges are underground whereby the final resting place is the water treatment plant.

“We have very little streams and large bodies of water within the FCT. On that basis there are places that are being littered along the riverine associate of rivers,” he added

He explained that Nigeria being signatory to most international treaties and government working on achieving sustainable environment, the university research centres were imparting knowledge on the communities to proffer solution to all the environmental challenges.

He also urged the media to disseminate information to enhance the understanding of residents on environmental degradation. 

A Deputy Director at the FCT Water Board, Agbontaen Sunday, said human interference resulted in water contamination. 

Sunday who is also Head of Department, Reservoir and Production at the board, noted that due to population boost over time, ways of disposing waste had not been the best. 

He said, “People dump their waste to river systems and that is why the water is undergoing a lot of treatment and government is wasting a lot of money to make sure that portable water reaches the people.”