From Idu Jude Abuja
The Minister of Environment, Mallam Balarabe Abbas Lawal, says the circular economy provides the framework for the balance between development and environmental sustainability.
The minister’s remark came in Abuja Thursday while presenting a keynote address at the workshop on Mainstreaming Circular Economy in Land Degradation Sectors of Construction, Mining, and Quarrying.
The programme, which is part of the Sustainable development goals of the United Nations, was sponsored by the European Union in partnership with the Federal Government to ensure environmental sustainability.
The minister further said the sectors were vital to Nigeria’s economic development, adding that they are implicated in land degradation, as “unregulated mining pits, exhausted quarry sites, deforestation, and polluted environments are clear signs of the imbalance between development and environmental sustainability.”
“Our landscapes, ecosystems, and communities bear the brunt of unchecked extraction, resource depletion, and unsustainable development due to construction, mining, and quarrying,” he added.
To stem the tide, the Minister stressed the need for the construction industry to adopt circular economy strategies to reduce its environmental footprint, insisting, “We must prioritise land rehabilitation in mining and quarrying operations. Mining and quarrying companies must adopt zero-waste policies, ensuring that mining by-products, such as tailings and waste rocks, are repurposed for other industrial uses or construction projects.”
In his welcome address, the Director General of the Nigeria Environmental Standards and Safety Regulations Agency (NESREA), Dr. Innocent Barikor, noted that the circular economy offers a transformative framework to ensure resource conservation and regeneration, waste-to-resource systems, and sustainable urbanisation.”
He called for the collaboration of all stakeholders to ensure the adoption and promotion of sustainable practices to speed up “the restoration of our land, regeneration of our ecosystems, and protection of our environment for future generations.”
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment, Senator Akintude Yunus, and the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, Hon. Terseer Ugbor, pledged the support of the National Assembly towards providing the necessary legislative backing for environmental protection in the country.