FG adopts technology for sustainable devt of urban settlements – Fashola
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said that the Federal Government is keen on using technology as a tool for sustainable development of settlements as well as transforming waste to wealth for the well-being of urban dwellers.
Delivering a keynote address at the 2019 World Habitat Day and World Cities in Abuja, with the theme; ‘Frontier Technologies as an Innovative Tool to Transform Waste to Wealth’ and ‘Changing the World: Innovation and a Better Life for Future Generations’, Fashola said that using a well-planned and developed urban agenda, cities have the ability to harness transformational change to promote economically, socially and environmentally sustainable societies that will improve lives of their inhabitants.
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Fashola, who was represented by the Minister of State for Works and Housing, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, said the event was aimed at reminding the world that we all have the power and responsibility to shape the future of our cities and build the type of cities that we desire for our good health and well-being.
“Our resolve is to make things better. Therefore, we are working assiduously to address the housing challenges, the infrastructure we face, the challenges posed by unplanned cities and the growing number of slums and squatter settlements as well as the lack of basic services in our neighbourhoods and communities.
“We want to ensure that poverty levels are drastically reduced, and that the economy grows in such a way that jobs are created and inequalities are reduced as much as possible.
“These are the major commitments of our Change Agenda for the sector which Nigerians are expectantly looking unto us to deliver by 2030,’’ said Fashola.
Earlier, Executive Director, UN-Habitat, Maimunah Sharif, said one of the most intractable problems that is all too evident in many of our communities are the mounds of “waste in the streets, the effluent in our rivers, our overflowing landfills and the thick smoke from smouldering piles of rubbish”.
The UN-Habitat executive director added that every year our homes, factories, industries, offices, markets and shops produce 7-10 billion tonnes of waste that are polluting our air, soil and water killing marine life, contributing to climate change and threatening the health of our planet and its population.
Sharif noted that by rethinking the entire waste management cycle, we can resolve not only the challenge of inadequate waste management, but also create employment, promote economic growth, improve public health and ecosystems and combat climate change.
