Volunteer groups from civil society organizations on Wednesday urged the Nigerian government to reactivate policies on the water to curb water pollution.
They jointly gave the urge at Jabi Lake Park in Abuja during a campaign to mark World Water Day 2023.
The Climate and Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet) led a team from the African Activists for Climate on a clean–up of the Jabi Lake Park.
CSDevNet National Network Coordinator, Mr. Abu Steve, called on the government to use the opportunity of the World Water Day celebration to reinforce the policies on waterways.
Steve said that if Nigeria must conserve biodiversity and manage its water very well, the issue of plastic waste must be taken seriously.
“Should in case these policies are lying dormant, it is time to reactivate them to make them guide us.
“It is time to sensitize the people on how to reuse, and recycle some of these plastics instead of dumping them anyhow.
“We have life underwater, and this source of pollution of plastic wastes is dangerous too,” he said.
Steve said World Water Day 2023 is an important day and called on the government to take action on water-related issues in the country.
“We call on these companies that produce plastic to enforce a law on how to take back the wastes from society.
“We are also calling on the public to change their lifestyles of littering the environment with plastics and other wastes,” he said.
Mr. Femi Olubiyo, a volunteer from CSDevNet said that their main objective at the Jabi Lake Park was to create awareness and sensitize the public on how to keep the water clean to be healthy for humans and animals.
“In safeguarding our environment, everyone has a role to play, we can’t just leave it to the government alone.
“When we fail to take care of our water, it threatens sustainable development, biodiversity, and people’s access to good water and sanitation,” Olubiyo warned.
Ms. Bilkisu Aliyu, a volunteer decried the lack of waste bins around the Abuja metropolis and called on stakeholders in charge of waste collection to introduce them.
Aliyu urged the management of Jabi Lake Park to ensure that there are sanitation security officers within the lake, to checkmate the dumping of plastics and other wastes within the park.
Mr. Paul Sambo, who is also a volunteer in the clean–up exercise decried the level of indiscriminate dumping of plastics in the water bodies.
World Water Day 2023 is celebrated with the theme: “Accelerating Change”.
World Water Day is held annually on March 22, 1993.
The day celebrates water and raises awareness of the two billion people living without access to safe water.
World Water Day is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.
