Lagos – A former Nigeria High Commissioner to Australia, Amb. Ayo Olukanmi, on Monday urged Nigerians to rise against the challenge of turning the country into a dumping ground for e-waste.
Olukanmi made the call in Lagos on the sidelines of the 30th anniversary lecture of the Masters of International Law and Diplomacy (MILD) at the University of Lagos.
Theme of the lecture is: “International Law and Development Process in Developing Countries: Reflections on Nigeria’s Experience’’.
The event was organised by the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Faculty of Law of the institution.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia says that “Electronic waste or e-waste is used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling or disposal.
“Informal processing of electronic waste in developing countries may cause serious health and pollution problems, as these countries have limited regulatory oversight of e-waste processing’’.
Olukanmi said: “Some people within and outside the country are not being fair to the Nigeria’s environment.
“They deliberately refuse to acknowledge the dangers caused by turning the country into e-waste ground.
“Our people must rise up to this challenge because such is the nature of environmental issue that we are presently grappling with in our country today.
“The Ministry of Environment has been taken steps to check this by recommending effective implementation of the National Electronic Waste Policy.
“Also, International law which sets standard and provides the framework for the realisation of the minimum conditions for world order must be observed’’.
Olukanmi said that a report of the World Commission of Environment and Development had alerted the international community of the destruction of the earth’s environment by man’s current development pattern.
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He said that electronic waste like fairly used computers, CPU monitors, printers, refrigerators and others which constituted about 75 per cent of electronics shipped into the country were junks.
According to him, research has shown that at least 500 containers of used computers enter Nigeria monthly.
He said that such development was not healthy for the citizens’ physical wellbeing.
Olukanmi, who is also the Vice-Chairman, Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE), said that the issue was the focus of the Basel Convention which inspired the country’s national e-waste policy.
He said the international law had impacted positively on the nation’s development trajectory, adding that the country should not relent in its efforts in sustaining these benefits.
“Think of the various human rights instruments, from the Universal Declarations of Human Rights to the non-Proliferation Treaty to the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women,’’ he said.
Olukanmi said that the Council for Legal Education should make international law compulsory as part of law education right from the first degree (LLB).
He said that the action if enforced would help to produce lawyers with good grasp of international legal order.
Olukanmi said that it would help to prepare them for a global career around issues like international transactions, litigations, international human rights, humanitarian law and international trade. (NAN)
