Prapoert'b'Envlranment
133
Nigerian Tribune
Monday, 28 Nove mb er, 2011
Drainage masterplan necessary for safety -Commissioner Stories by Chukwuma Okp.u;rocha. Lagos
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spite of the fact that Lagos Siale is below ea level, there are plans to p roperly d rain' its water, to ensure it remains sa fe for all residents. This was the view of the Commissioner for Physical Plann ing and Urban Development, Mr Oluwatoyin Ayinla, in an interview monitored by Proptrty
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fn v iro",,,ent, recently. According 10 him, there are master drainage plans in the stale and Ihe sta le government is making plans to ensure that those p lans are followed . He disclosed thai the drainnge ma s ter- plan was meanl to id e ntify water channels in the Slate, so thai proper drainages could be created for them. "But when drainages that are meant to conduct wate r a re blocked, it becomes very difficult for water to f\ow,~ he staled, \vhile also st reSSing the need for the citizens to deviate from the habit of dumping refuse in d rainages. The commissioner also used the avenue to e mphasise the s tance of the state government o n the state of so me bui ldings considered not
fit for habitation in the slale. "B uildings th ai are distressed , di lapidated and in a state of dis repair and which pose a threat to lives and p roperty have been identified a nd listed," he insisted, whIle advising the ow ners of such houses to bring them down themselves. He, however, added that if such people found it difficult to do this, the governmenl cou ld help them to do so, saying the governmenl would nol s tand by and watch peop le lake suicidal decisions, or endanger the lives of others. To achieve this, after id e ntify ing s uch buildings, he disclosed that the occupiers would be ejected because, according to him, buildings don' t give any alert of an imminent collapse. According to him, engineers are a lways invited to obse rve such buildings through visual assessment, wh il e materia l testing scientists are often made to take samples from such buildings fo r necessary laboratory tests . Such tests, he disclosed, would reveal if the buildings were fit for habitation or not, adding that this had
been done for ove r 200 buildings in va rious parts of the state. Mr Ayinla furth er sta ted Ihat as part o f the means of achieving this, the s tale governme nt had, it in its p,og",n"".
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(TITA).
According to him, between 1990 and 2005 a lone, th e w o rld lost 3.3% of its fore sts, and the Guinean Rainfores t (GRF) of Wes t Africa, identified over 20 years ago as a global biodiversi t y hotspot , was rl'd uced to 113,000 km: at the start of th e
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th at the aim o f the eXisti ng urban d evelop ment and cO llllol law was to e n iu re that effective mcnitoring of building cOllstruction in the state
Efficient e-waste mgt can solve economic . b I E pro ems - Experts ~!~:;~ti:~uipme~~w:;t~ ~~-
properl ~ trea ted WIth
mana ement can
enhangce national economy, open more vista of hope to N igerian populace and provide jobs for millions of jobless youth across the country. Thi s was the view of
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new millennium which was 18% of its o riginal area. Experts have disclosed. that in N igeria, defores tation, loss of vegetation and the selective exploita ti on of fore s ts for economic or sodal reasons are about 3.5% per year, translating to a loss of 350,000400,000 hectares of forest land per year. "The consequence of this situation has led to global wa r ming a nd climate ch ange that is now affecting agricultural produ ct ion, " says Sangi nga, at the officia l launch of the Nigerian Field Society You n ~
co ntinu e to be monitored," he affirmed. While a lso commenting on some o f the laws guiding physical deve lop ment exercises in Ihe stale, the commissioner insisted
Ajtgllnlt arta IInsafe, posi"g mviro"mentllilitalt/l "lizards.
ITTADG urges youth to combat deforestation, ;nvol ~ed resources degradati'on
ETTI NG the youth, In conservalton could help prese rve the African forests, sustain eUorts on reforesta tion, and slo w down the alarming rate of defores tation and natura l resoarce degradation. This was disl!losed by Dr N le ranya Sanginga, Director-General of the Interna tiona l Ins titute of Tropical Agricultu re
involved the private sector. " We will continue to study bui ld ings so as to stop the menace of building collapse in Ihe state. Those who are
Explore rs' (NFSYE) in Ibadan. ~ Apart from deforestation, we a lso have the loss of biodivers ity and soil degradation. All of these are contributing to the low yields that farmers are now experiencing in the fie ld, ~ he added. While speaking al the same event, Professo r David Oka li, Nigeria's first p rofessor of forestry a nd im mediate past Presiden t of the Nigerian Field SOCiety (NFS), noted that the impact of d eforestation and degradation on the environment and li ve lihoods was enormous. ~-
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environment;\1 experts at the 14'~ annual confe rence and general meeting of the en vi ronmental division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. A t Ihe event, which had the theme; ~ E-waste Managl!:ment in Nigeria: Pros pects and challen ges," held at Ikeja, Lagos Sta te, last week, experts opined Ihat Nigeria, thro ugh efficient e-waste management, stood the chance of aClualising a safe environmen t, in addition to crea ting job ' . . ronsl'd enog opportwlities, the heat th implication of many items that constituted e-waste. Wh'l d I' . I' l e e Ive rmg lIS speech, the Chairman of the Division. Mr Abdu lWahab Ogunbiyi, affirmed that the confelence was aimed, among other things, al b ringing togethe r business men, serv ice prov iders, academics, authorities / regulatory bodies an~ all tiers o~ .tre . ~.
government, AS well as the p ubli c, wi th a view 10 exposing to them to the challenges a nd opportunities embedded in e-waste management in Nigeria. "Generation of e-waste is not the real p roblem, after all, generation of waste is naturall y associa ted with human act iv ity, but how to manage the wasle, the challenge." Mr. Ogunbiyi d isclosed. while also addi n g that, "how to manage e-waste materials and what equ ipment to u,..re the p-clem to u, lVlJ in Nigeria.. as it is all over in the world ." Ihe division has been working hard to proffe r
ma retials are a g reat source of weal~h, employment opporturuty anc a good base of technolo~ development of the nallon. ~ We pre therefore lool<ing for ways to manage ...... waste for clean en\'ironment, creation of wea lth. job opportunities; increasing the nation 's tec~nology advancement and creating busi ness fomm for our business men and women at a glo\:>allel'el. l1\e size and benefits of e-waste maleria ls in Nigeria is huge,~ the envi ronmental expert stressed. Also when speaking at the event Dr Soyibi Oede, whn represe nted the Oirl!cior-Cene r;\ 1 of the Nat ional Office fo r
solution . One of such efforts is the inauguration for a research committee Technolc,gy Acquisition for e-waste management and Promotion. Dr. U.B. equipment and facilities," Bindir, sl'ated that Lagos State lVa5 the only state he added . "Sources of e-wasle are making headway in waste numerous in our society management, but atgl,led today, and dangers posed that the state was facing to our environment are the threalS posed by solid numerous .?~ well, but if ,, \,r ~~~~;. '1 1, " . 1'''~':~~,~; "'1
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