By Perpetua Onuegbu
Abuja – A biogas expert, Mr Basil Nnamdi, has urged the Federal Government to use the abundant environmental waste in the country for the production of biogas.
Nnamdi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that in doing so energy would become available to Nigerians and national development would be stimulated.
“Many countries, especially the developed countries, have turned the waste in their environment to wealth by recycling them into other byproducts or converting them to biogas for energy.
“Biogas is the process of using biotechnology process to convert waste to energy in the form of methane through anaerobic digestion.
“Government has already set up agencies such as the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), National Biotechnology Management Agency (NBMA), and others with the mandate to research and develop this system.
“What needs to be done is to invest more funds in these agencies.
“If these agencies are well-funded and mandated to come up with sustainable solutions to the various environmental challenges we face as a country, they will be energised to work,’’ Nnamdi said.
According to him, if biogas is adopted in the country, streets will be free of heaps of refuse and this will promote the production of environmentally friendly energy.
Nnamdi said that biogas could also be used for cooking purposes and the production of byproducts used as organic fertilisers.
He, therefore, urged the government to sensitise citizens to the benefits of biogas and direct all state governments to set up waste collection centres, where refuse collected from the streets could be dumped for further processing.