By: William Olaleye
The Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for the African Region (BCCC-AFRICA) held a one-day Inception Workshop of the Project “Accelerating Community Awareness on Plastic Waste through Interventions with Students and Graduates of Tertiary Educational Institutions in Ibadan, Nigeria.”
At the Workshop, the Executive Director of BCCC-AFRICA, Professor Percy C. Onianwa, explained the scope of the proposed project, it’s intended participants and it’s time frame.
According to him the BCCC-Africa intends to hold training sessions over the span of a year, to train final year students of the University of Ibadan, the Polytechnic Ibadan, and Youth Corps Members posted to Ibadan.
Each batch would include 150 participants and the training sessions are expected to wrap up in 2026.
“We’re going to take people in batches and we will have three batches from UI, three batches from the Polytechnic and three batches from NYSC.”
Each batch is a one-day workshop which would be followed up by networking with all the students who attended.” He said.
He further explained that the facilitators of the workshop would include people from the Basel Convention, people from other organizations in Ibadan; government, waste managers, recyclers and others.
Following his address, a workshop, with trained professionals was held where participants were warned of the dangers of plastic waste pollution, it’s effects on marine and human life and the Earth’s atmosphere.
Dr. Joshua Babayemi, a professional at the event, presented statistics denoting the dire volume of plastic waste globally and in Nigeria.
He showed statistics of the plastic waste generation as of 2023, as well as the rate of plastic import between 1990 and 2017, and the rate of plastic waste generation of Lagos State.
He cited statistics from OECD, 2022, “As of 2023, 430 million metric tonnes of plastic was produced globally. Two-thirds became waste in a short period.
“He further cited, from studies he himself had published in 2017, they Nigeria had imported over 22 million metric tones of wast between 1996 and 2017, while Lagos State alone produces about 13,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste daily.”
He went further to explain the nature of waste pollution that occurred on a daily basis in Nigeria.
From dumping plastic bottles in the rivers and drainages, to dispensing micro plastics into the air via burning of plastic products, to burning plastic waste, he explained that all these had negative effects on lifeforms and Earth’s surface.
He also explained that due to the depositing of nano and micro plastics in the waters, most fish consumed by human beings contained the harmful substances that plastics emit when ingested by the fish.
Another study conducted by Professor Aina Adeogun, who represented the management of the University of Ibadan showed that 8 out of 10 fish extracted from Eleyele river in Ibadan and two rivers in Lagos State, contained a heavy concentration of micro plastics in their guts.
A recent pilot survey conducted by staff of BCCC-AFRICA, showed that 95% out of 400+ individuals from the University of Ibadan and the Polytechnic Ibadan did not know about plastic waste pollution and it’s dangers to Earth and health.
The Director then explained the various steps the BCCC has taken in reducing plastic waste pollution, including specific sensitization events among students of the University of Ibadan, outreaches to countries outside Nigeria, like Ghana, media campaigns under the hashtag PlasticsAwareNG and many more.
He further stressed that participants of the training sessions would be expected to perform sensitization activities in whatever locales they end up and that they would have the full support of the organization.
The event was held at the Department of Peace, Security and Humanitarian Services, University of Ibadan and featured attendance from selected Final Year students from the Polytechnic Ibadan, University of Ibadan as well as Corps Members.
There were also dignitaries and representatives from the Federal Ministry of Environment, Abuja Professor Aina Adeogun of the University of Ibadan, a representative from the Oyo State Government, Lagos State and the National Youth Service Corps.
There were several other sessions held at the event, including an introduction to the BCCC and the proposed project by the Executive Director of BCCC-AFRICA, Professor Percy C. Onianwa, an overview of past projects by the organization, an overview of some other plastic clean-up initiatives in the University of Ibadan and a workshop on the danger and negative effects of plastic pollution to human and the ocean.
The Basel Convention is a global agreement that aims to control and reduce the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and other wastes, and ensure their environmentally sound management.
It was adopted in 1989 and entered into force in 1992.
The convention’s core principles include minimizing the generation and movement of hazardous waste, and ensuring its proper disposal close to the source of generation.
