Wildlife expert predicts epidemic A/Ibom
An environmentalist and associate professor of Wildlife Resources Management, Department of Forestry and Natural Environmental Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uyo (UNIUYO), Dr. Edem Enaing, has alerted the Akwa Ibom state government of an impending epidemic in the state arising from improper waste disposal system.
He said the continuous dumping of refuse collected from government approved waste management points into the ravine would expose the citizens of the state to avoidable epidemic.
Dr. Enaing, who engaged post – graduate students from the Center for Wetlands and Waste Management Studies, University of Uyo, on a sensitization campaign in Uyo, the state capital to mark this year’s World Wildlife Day, expressed concerns about the state government’s waste disposal system.
He said, this year’s World Wildlife Life Day with the theme: “Life below water for people and the planet” was apt considering the great threat to marine mammals and bio-diversity globally.
The associate professor who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Biodiversity Preservation Center (BPC) disclosed that the theme of this year’s celebration is adopted directly from the 14th item in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which highlight bio-diversity and animals.
While condemning the waste disposal system of the state government, he said that “it is wrong for the state government to go round the streets of Uyo to park lorry loads of refuse only to dump them in the ravine in this 21th century.
“We need to segregate the waste, separate plastic waste from metal, paper and food waste. You don’t lump all the waste together and dump in the ravine, it would create more novel diseases due to environmental challenges in future. The ravine has a body of water, it is the most incredible thing that the state government is doing.”
He said the waste collected are buried with radioactive materials and impurities which eventually find their way to the land surface and are washed away by rain into the river which affects marine and human lives.
