Ejiofor
The Nigerian Economic Summit (NESG) has said Nigeria imports an estimated average of 952,380 plastics and plastic products annually from different parts of the world.
Chair of the technical sub-committee of the 29th NESG Mrs Ozofu Ogiemudia said Nigeria is one of the largest consumers of plastics in Africa, stating that the country imported an estimated 20 million tonnes of primary plastics and plastic products between 1996 and 2017. “And this is projected to reach 40 million tonnes by 2030,” she said. Ogiemudia reiterated that the high volume of plastic use in the country points to the importance of considering the effects it may have on people and the environment.
Ogiemudia disclosed this during pre NES29 summit webinar on harnessing Nigeria’s plastics value chain of the NESG on Tuesday, September 19th, 2023, with the theme “Waste-to-Wealth: The Plastics Value Chain.”
UNEP said plastic waste flows into the ocean at about 11 million metric tonnes annually, harming marine life and damaging aquatic habitats. Nigeria generates some 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, some of which end up in the sea. Doing nothing will accelerate the annual flow of Plastic into the ocean, which is expected to nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million metric tonnes per year, equivalent to 50 kg of Plastic per metre of coastline worldwide.
Professor Jauro stated that improperly disposed plastics clog drainages, leading to floods, contaminating water bodies, and causing threats to wildlife, indicating the importance of recycling. He noted the importance of recycling, noting that the gaps in plastic waste control, such as lack of identifiable information on the cost incurred by the government on the collection, sorting, in-house gas emission, waste collection across geo-political zones and cost involved in setting up collection points are hindering Nigeria from fully harnessing the potentials of the plastics value chain.
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