By Iliya Kure
A head of world Clean-up day, the Director of African Climate Reporters, Mohammed Zakari, has called on Nigerians to change from the ‘culture’ of throwing away plastic and garbage on the streets, car-parks, railway train stations and others, in other to save the environment against all forms of trash, filthiness and pollution, and to avert any tendency of outbreak of health disaster.
Mohammed, who made the call during an interactive section with stakeholders on environmental NGOs and CSOs, with volunteer environmental experts in Kaduna, said there are estimated 1 million plastic bags used every minute, and a single plastic bag can take 1,000 years to degrade!
He said, throwing plastic waste and other garbage into the river has lead to the death of millions of aquatic animals,while many other are in a critical situation.
Adding that the population of plastic and other waste into the river has double the number of aquatic animals,hence the need to raise more awareness to the public on harmful effect of throwing waste garbage and other plastic materials into the river and other pond.
He said there is need to raise more awareness to the public on the dangers of throwing away all forms of trash into the streets in plastic bags and other plastic wastes, stressing also that discarded COVID-19 face masks, hand gloves, sanitisers have contribute to the burden of more plastic waste in the environment
According to him, it is the responsibility of every citizen to save the environment against all forms of challenges, which could be a form of threat to existence of human and animal lives.
Mohammed stressed that, “If you go to the car park, fuel station, football stadium and even train station, you will see many plastic leathers dominating the places. Poor awareness on the danger posed by plastic leathers is the reason behind the wild spread of plastic waste in the society.”
Also speaking, Chairman of Kaduna Metro Environment and Awareness, Comrade Jibril Mohammed, stressed the need to support recycling companies across northern Nigeria.
He emphasised that, “Government needs to help most of the recycling companies with steady electricity, in order to reduce the plastic polluting disturbing the society.” In addition, he said “The effects of throwing garbage anywhere poses a great danger to human, animal and even plants, aside creating a mess and negatively affecting the appearance of the surrounding. Indeed, the rotting waste and garbage start to stink and hungry animals lurk around to feed on it,” he noted.
In a remark, Team Leader of ‘Save the Environment,’ Mr. Paul Isaac, said “Throwing garbage anywhere is an open invitation to the breeding of parasites, pathogens and, ultimately, the spread of various harmful diseases,” and called on Nigerians to change their attitudes of blocking water passage and stop any construction on waterways to avert flood and other environment challenges.
“We encourage you to become a Plastic Changer for this day. You don’t need to register but can do it from wherever you are – whether it is in your neighbourhood, at a beach nearby, at the forest river, anywhere really. Just bring your own bag to collect the lost waste. You can even combine this event with any other activity you are doing already, for example, if you are on a picnic with friends or on a (daily) walk. World Clean Up day is celebrated every 19 September.”
World Cleanup Day is a civic movement, uniting 180 countries and millions of people across the world to clean up the planet in one day.
