The Director, Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mrs Bahijjahtu Abubakar, explained that Nigeria imports two specific types of waste – mutilated rags and fibre, and Refuse Derived Fuel used for energy generation used to power cement kilns in the production of cement, from the European Union under the 1991 Basel Convention, which regulates the transboundary movement of waste.
Abubakar stated that the mutilated rags are recycled into raw materials for the textile industry in Nigeria for the production of sweaters, blankets and baby shawls. On the other hand, the waste for cement is used in the kilns of cement production.
She offered the explanation amid criticisms by environmental activities and civil society organisations.
Abubakar emphasised that these imports are tightly regulated and required for specific industrial purposes, and the process involves rigorous approval, which can take years, and both the exporting and importing countries must ensure that these materials are used as intended.
Last month, the European Commission said it received requests from Nigeria and 23 other non-members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries seeking inclusion in the list of nations eligible to import non-hazardous waste from the European Union.
Non-hazardous waste, which accounts for 95.6 per cent of solid waste produced in Europe, includes municipal waste, such as packaging, clothing, bottles, and plastics, as well as demolition materials like concrete, bricks, stones, and food waste.
It said in a statement that the request was made in line with the new Waste Shipments Regulation, introduced as part of the EU’s Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan.
The countries that have submitted requests include Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, North Macedonia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Vietnam, alongside Nigeria.
However, civil society organisations faulted the request by Nigeria, stating that Nigeria and other African countries had become dumpsites for thousands of obsolete and unusable computers and other e-waste.
But explaining the rationale behind the Federal Government’s decision, Abubakar said, “We’re not importing plastics. We are importing those two because we need them for cement production, blankets, baby shawls, sweaters, knitting wool production, and others. Those are the two that Nigeria has applied for because we don’t have them and that is the essence of Basel Convention, the transboundary movement of waste. Before you apply and before you get them, there’s what is called a prior informed consent, which means that before they leave there, that government takes full responsibility of the process, whether the United Kingdom, Brussels, Germany.
“These non-hazardous wastes under the Basel Convention are allowed for shipment and are not restricted because they are in Annex IX or category 9 of the Basel Convention, but Nigeria has informed the Secretariat that they are not allowed to come in without PIC ie Prio Informed Consent by the authority of the DNA in Nigeria. All the shawls, blankets we see here are made in Nigeria; not everyone has the money to import these things. We’ve been producing cement in this country for years, and this request is not new, we’ve been producing these things in the country for years, it has been since the Basel Convention of 1991. These are the only two wastes we import, and these are the uses for which we import them, and we do not have them but we need them as raw materials for these two industries. It’s not as if a lot of industries are not applying but the process to get an approval is so rigorous that it can takes 10 years to get approval, and this is one of the reasons the Federal Ministry of Environment was created in the first place.
“Also note that it’s not in the hands of Nigeria alone to approve what we can import and what we cannot import. The exporting country demands when we import these things, we’re using it for what we said we’re going to use demand, the companies must be involved, Nigeria will process the documents, they will inspect the shipment, acquire import consent, and then use, but they can’t even use it for anything else. For every country, they have their priorities as to what they want. So, for us, these are the only two that we need.”
She further highlighted that the process of applying for the waste under the Basel Convention involves government-to-government communication (between the EU and Nigeria).
“We could have said let’s do South Africa or India, but we prefer to do EU because of the climate in the EU is colder, so we’ll get more materials from the EU.
“Nigeria is following the due process in applying for it, and we need them (the wastes) because we still need to produce cements, blankets, shawls because people are still having babies, and it’s not everybody that can afford to buy shawls from abroad,” she added.
Meanwhile, environmental activists criticised Nigeria’s decision to apply, and accept wastes from the EU, even if it is labeled non-hazardous.
The Executive director, Renevlyn Development Initiative, Philip Jakpor, believes it is degrading for the country which already faces waste management challenges, to apply for wastes from other countries.
Jakpor said, “It’s unfortunate to learn that Nigeria is pleading and even has to apply and be vetted to be included in a list of countries to import waste. Mind you, waste is waste even if it’s labelled non-hazardous as what our nation applied to receive from the EU had been termed.
“We are a nation already grappling with waste management issues and now to degenerate to the level of applying for EU waste is extremely demeaning. Something is wrong with the thinking of our so-called leaders who even conceived this idea in the first place.
“It is still part of a colonial mentality that assumes that anything, including electronic waste or used clothing that comes from the Global North is okay in our environment and not where they are originating from. Not only the environment community, but all Nigerians should rise up to reject this insult brought on us by those in government who even thought of this shameful idea.”
Also, the Executive Director of Citizens Free Service Forum, Sani Baba noted that Nigeria should prioritise managing its waste before considering importing others’ waste, as poor disposal practices harm the environment and animals
“We should also be thinking of how best to address the needs of waste collectors by providing them with Personal protective equipment and good condition for the services they render. We have been fighting against the privatisation of waste collection to allow public service agencies to do what is expected of them.
“More funding should be set aside for waste collectors training, provision of protective gadgets and safe disposal environments, and the overnment should call for the review of its ageing policies to be looked into by all players and stakeholders,” he stated.
Discussion about this post