Michael Faloseyi, Abuja

President Olusegun Obasanjo, while declaring the forum open in Abuja, said that waste management was a matter of significance because of its impact on health and the environment.

The president, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette, noted that solid waste was in the past, used as manure because of its composition as 100 per cent biodegradable.

But he said that economic development had changed the nature and composition of solid waste with non-biodegradable elements like plastics, tins and cans making up about 30 to 40 per cent of solid waste.

He said the development posed a negative impact as it blocked drainages, waterways, littered roadsides and parks, affected soil yields on farms and choked cattle and other animals to death when accidentally ingested.

He said that the complexity and impact of solid waste on agriculture informed the Federal Government痴 position in making management of solid waste one of its cardinal activities.

Solid waste, he said, required huge human and material resources that are beyond the scope of local government councils that are charged with the constitutional responsibility of managing it.

He said that the enormity of the problem required collaborative efforts between public and private sector operators and that participants at the forum should develop the framework for such collaborative efforts.

The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Helen Esuene, said that the widespread nature of solid waste mismanagement might be responsible for incidents of typhoid fever in the country.

She, therefore, pledged the Federal Government痴 support for any initiative that would ensure effective solid waste management in Nigeria.

THE PUNCH, Friday April 28, 2006