The Country Representative, UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Nigeria, Dr Patrick Kormawa, has called for sustainable management of electronic waste (e-Waste) in the country.
Kormawa, who is also the UNIDO Regional Director for West Africa, made the call in Abuja recently in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said the country would experience high volume of e-Waste as a result of transition from analogue to digital by 2015, the deadline set for digitalisation policy.
The representative, however, expressed optimism that the country would be able to handle the volume of e-Waste that would be generated.
According to him, UNIDO, in collaboration with the Federal Government, organised a Stakeholders’ Consultative Workshop on Electrical and Electronics Waste Management for Nigeria.
“The workshop was to prepare us (Nigerians) on how to collect those high volumes of e-waste and manage them in a sustainable manner.
“So, one of the preparations that government is putting in place is effective collaboration with stakeholders and experts in the sector to ensure that e-waste do not increase.’’
Kormawa, however, said that statistics had shown that approximately 100,000 tonnes of e-waste illegally enters Nigeria every year through Lagos and other ports.
He also said an e-Waste Country Assessment for Nigeria published in 2012 identified exponentially growing consumption of new and used electronic products and increasing e-waste generation. (NAN)
