A Professor of Environmental Management and Sustainability, from the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof Chidi Nzeadibe has charged the Federal and State governments to develop an operational policy framework that would reposition the informal sector for economic prosperity.
Nzeadibe gave the charge in Nsukka on Thursday while delivering the UNN 243rd Inaugural Lecture Series, titled: “Dealing With Waste: Expounding the Geographies of Garbage in African Cities Through the Lens of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
He said that framing and implementing a robust policy for the informal economy would help strengthen Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM).
He said that the informal economy is very important in framing an MSWM policy that engages primary stakeholders and non-state actors to sustain vulnerable waste-based livelihoods.
The Don, who described MSWM as the systemic administration of activities associated with the generation, storage, collection, transport, processing, and disposal of waste, stressed that its proper management is vital to the protection of public health, mitigation of environmental pollution, as well as support sustainable development.
“Acknowledging the informal economy with a well-mapped-out policy framework by the state and federal governments is the critical first step towards framing an MSWM policy in which primary stakeholders and non-state actors are involved.
“Such inclusive policy will not only save Nigeria from the garbage crisis but also create an avenue for profitable recovery of value inherent in waste for the sustenance of vulnerable waste-based livelihoods.
“It’s a known fact that informal waste management, which is a way of life in most African cities, is creating jobs, sustaining the environment and society, and all these things are part of the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.
On the development contributions of the informal waste economy in Nigeria, the UNN’s 243rd Inaugural lecturer canvasses for an inclusive solid waste policy that would promote socioeconomic and spatial justice towards the informal waste economy as a desirable goal.
While advocating for taxation of new products and subsidisation of recycled products to encourage material reuse and recycling, the don called for setting targets for recycling and use of recycled products; introduction of buy-back schemes; legislative reforms to initiate and guide formal recycling activity; development of functional source separation schemes and public-private partnership in solid waste management.
He insisted that the current paradigm shift from ‘waste management’ to ‘resource management’ would require mainstreaming the informal economy in MSWM policy.
“This would arguably be both economically efficient and financially beneficial as it reduces the costs of waste management as well as the need for large-scale investments in infrastructure while also being more socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable,” he said.
Nzeadibe, who is also the current Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, UNN, thanked his family members, departments, faculty staff and students for their support, as well as the university authority for giving approval for the inaugural lecture to take place.
Earlier in a remark, Prof Simon Ortuanya, Vice-Chancellor of UNN, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Administration, Prof Michael Onyia said that the inaugural lecture series is used to induct a professor into the University’s academic community.
“This is a platform where a professors presents their research findings, career journey, and scholarly contributions to the public,” he said.
The VC commended the Lecturer for his scholarly contributions in his chosen field.
The highlight of the event was a presentation of a plaque and certificate of the university’s inaugural lecture to Prof Nzeadibe.