The Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Garba Abari, has said an estimated 13 million tonnes of plastic find their way into the ocean each year.
Dr. Abari who revealed this at the 2018 World Environment Day (WED) walk organised by the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ) in Abuja, yesterday, added that its amounts to 165 million tonnes of plastic pollution in the oceans as at 2012.
Speaking on this year’s theme, ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’, Abari said plastic wastes pose huge dangers to the environment and human existence as they take 50 to 600 years to decompose.
He said: “Eighty-three per cent of tap water samples around the world in 2017 contained plastic pollutants.
While calling for attitudinal change in ensuring proper disposal of plastic wastes, he charged manufacturers and shopping outlets on adopting bio-degradable packaging for their products to minimize the availability of plastic pollutants in the society.
Speaking, the National Coordinator of CEPEJ, Sherrif Mulade, reflecting on the theme, said Nigeria should also try to emulate the Indian model of saving the planet as he tasked government and stakeholders to explore sustainable alternatives to reduce the production and uncontrolled use of single plastic.
“We implore you to use your plastic wastes to produce other useful goods, to be creative, own a garden and grow medicinal plants, spices or herbs and trees,” he said.
Mulade also call on the Minister of Environment and that of the FCT to site a recycling plant to manage and control the production and use of plastics in the FCT, saying it will create jobs for Abuja residents.
“We all can eliminate the negativities that are present in the environment as well as improve on the various development and urbanization processes, towards achieving environmental sustainability,” Mulade also noted.
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