A group of Environmental journalists has advised the Kaduna State Governor, North West Nigeria, Nasir El-rufa’i to appoint professionals to man certain ministries and agencies in the State for efficiency and productivity.
Specifically, the group wants an expert to be appointed as Commissioner for the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENR), in order to manage environmental issues in the state in line with the global environmental best practices.
The group noted that over the years, the State government has been appointing people with little or no technical-know-how to man the ministry which has been making it ineffective in the discharge of its responsibilities.
The Group also wants the National Orientation Agency to alive to its responsibilities by enlightening the public on the dangers of environmental pollution.
These were part of resolutions adopted at an interactive session organized by the Africa Media Development Foundation, AMDF with the journalists on Friday in Kaduna to mark 2019 World Environment Day.
Addressing the session earlier, officials of the AMDF had stressed the need for effective collaboration among environmental advocates.
Coordinator of AMDF, Sekyen Dadik described air pollution as the most deadliest killer in the world surpassing malaria and Hiv aids.
“It is against this backdrop, the AMDF wants the media to lend their voice towards creating awareness among the populace on the risk posed by air pollution”, she said.
She noted that the environment in which people live is at risk hence the need to avoid contaminating it to save lives.
On her part, Communication Officer of the AMDF, Hannatu Mato said, the organisation was partnering with media practitioners and other non-governmental organisations to mitigate the issue of climate change in Kaduna State by way of increased awareness and education.
“AMDF is worried about issues of climate change. We have been partnering with some journalists who work around environment here in Kaduna State to push for global best practices when it comes to environment.
“This year’s global environmental day focused on air pollution which affect all of us. You can see the emision from dumping sites, emision from articulated vehicles on our roads as well as from generating sets from our homes. All these are dangerous to our health.
“The good thing is that, these challenges are surmountable if we have proper laws and experts in place to implement it. Climate change has come to live with us but we must find a way of managing it.” she stressed.
According to experts, household air pollution causes 3.8 million premature deaths each year. The vast majority of them in the developing world, and about 60% of those deaths are among women and children.
