The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency in Nigeria, NESREA has called for a more collaborative effort from stakeholders to ensure that the newly launched battery regulations is enforce across the country.
The Director General of NESREA, Dr Innocent Barikor stated this at the launching of the National Environmental (Battery Control) Regulations for civil society and journalists held in Abuja the nation’s capital.
He said it will no longer be business as usual in the battery regulations sector.
‘I therefore urge each and every one of us to avail ourselves the opportunity of assimilating the provisions of this legislation and be its Ambassadors to the wider regulated community towards its application and implementation to achieve voluntary compliance, as it is generally said, ‘to comply with the law is far cheaper than to violate’. and as my learned friends would also say, ‘ignorance of the law is not an excuse’, for it will no longer be business as usual in the Battery sector
of the environment.’ He explained.
He said the interactive session is to help to acquaint journalists and Civil Society Organizations with the important legislation, which will cause a paradigm shift from the old to the new in the Battery Sector.
Dr Barikor said the agency will continue to work with the media to ensure that this information is circulated to the grassroot level.
He said the improper handling of the batteries poses severe environmental and health challenges to the populace.
Dr Barikor also noted that the informal sector especially, which often handles waste batteries without proper formal regulation by way of governance, significantly contributes to environmental pollution, on the soil, air and water.
According to him ‘i commend thr Development Partners for their unwavering support through the years, (especially, Heinrich Boll Stifing who put this whole event together) as I solicit for their continued assistance in the operationalization and implementation of the Regulation to ensure that
the essence trickles down to all stakeholders and the entire regulated community across the battery waste value chain.’
The Deputy Director Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr Nnamdi Nwankwo says the ministry will continue to collaborate with NESREA on the directive to make it workable.
He said the ministry will issue export certificate or Ecolabling certificate to recyclers before exporting to show that the process producing the ingots is green and non hazardous.
‘There was a recent survey of the battery sector, and the outcome of that survey was not so good. That shows we are not strictly following the guidelines, the national guidelines on battery management, that is why this regulation is very, very apt and important. and moving forward, the report was sent to our ministry, the ministers came up with a policy directive that moving forward from the report shows that many of the recycling facilities in the battery sector end up producing the ingots which under
the Basel and the Bamako Conventions.’
‘The important point there is this, the process producing these ingots is strictly not followed as splitted in the guidelines, and thereby allowing a lot of hazardous waste in country and taking the refined product abroad, so the Ministry of Environment is not happy with that, so that’s why they came up with a policy directive that those facility will be assessed and before they export their ingots, they should have what you call certification.’ He said.
The Executive Secretary of the Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling, ARBR, Mrs. Miranda Amachree, said ARBR will make a remarkable difference in improving environmental health and safety for a more sustainable and responsible future in the battery sector in Nigeria.
She informed that the event is essential to create the necessary networks, partnerships, and collaborations to sensitize stakeholders to promote compliance with the provisions of the regulations.
‘This strategy has been the overarching objective of
ARBR’s advocacy program. ARBR has partners from Government, NGOs, and Development Partners to implement our objectives. In this wise, we will like to appreciate HBS for the sponsoring this event. ‘ She said.
In a presentation by Representative of Heinrich Boll Stifting, Mr Ikenna Donald said the meeting was to present the role of media and civil society in the enforcement of the regulation.
‘What this meeting is all about is to see what role can you play as Civil Society Organizations, What role can you play as media, That’s what this meeting is about. We’re not here to talk about battery poisoning.’ this meeting is about us as a media people, these are the roles we want you to play in enforcing this regulation’. He said.
He also noted that the organisation has been working with NESREA and the Ministry of Environment and other ministries on the national chemical management committee to improve chemical management in the country.
‘Though, this is a big, a huge opportunity for Nigeria in terms of investment
, in terms of opening up the value chain. alot of people will go into transportation of used battery, its a huge business. alot of people go into storage. alot of people go into collections, telecommunication companies, the banks, all of those companies are going to be looking for companies to partner with them to make sure that their batteries are controlled.’ He said.
He said the introduction of National Environmental battery Control regulations 2024 represent a critical steps towards sustainable battery waste management in Nigeria.
According to him, ‘by addressing the complexities of battery disposal and recycling, these regulations aims to protect public health and the environment, while also contributing to Nigeria’s broader sustainable development goals.’
The Regulations will specifically tackles the challenges posed by informal recyclers and unregulated battery collection, recycling and disposal practices and seeks to formalize the battery recycling sector, promote safe disposal methods, minimize en
vironmental pollution and promote the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme for the battery sector in Nigeria.
The EPR Programme mandates that producers takes responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products as well as mandating producers, collectors and recyclers to work with the relevant Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO),that is,the Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling (ARBR) to ensure environmentally sound collection, transportation, storage and recycling of used batteries.
Source: Voice of Nigeria