The Federal Ministry of Environment is partnering with the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and other stakeholders to develop the national circular economy roadmap.
The roadmap will guide Nigeria’s transition to a more circular economy in the short, medium and long terms from 2023 to 2050.
A circular economy is an alternative to a linear economy which is given to making products, using products, and disposing products. It ensures closing material loops, through repair, reuse, recycling, refurbishment and remanufacturing of end-of-life products.
A circular economy is also a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible.
The PUNCH reports that creating a path to a circular economy will help to create new jobs and build more resilience to help avoid future disruptions, while also solving many other ongoing crises, from resource scarcity to biodiversity and climate change.
Speaking on Thursday at the one-day stakeholders’ validation workshop for the Nigeria Circular Roadmap organised by the FMoE in collaboration with the EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, the Permanent Secretary of the FMoE, Ibrahim Yusufu, said the Nigeria Circular Economy Programme was established to promote the adoption of circular economy as a model of sustainable development in which the productive use of resources is enhanced over time, wastes reduced and jobs created.
Yusufu who was represented by the Director of Human Resources at the ministry, Lawrence Adigwe, disclosed that Nigeria generates about 32m tons of solid waste per year, with little or no segregation is illegally dumped in open spaces or co-disposed off with hazardous wastes in dumpsites and burnt openly.
According to him, the unwholesome practices have been linked to perennial flash floods across the country, increased respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, increased incidences of cancer, loss of aquatic life, and loss of agricultural productivity.
He noted that the large volume of waste being generated in the country presents circular economy business opportunities across the waste management value chain which should be properly harnessed for jobs, wealth creation, the establishment of micro, small and medium scale enterprises, and private sector investment including foreign direct investment.
“In order for Nigeria to benefit from its circular economy potentials, a study on ‘Nigeria’s Transition to Green Economy: Linking Circular Economy and Natural Capital for Public-Private Partnership Investment’ was commissioned with support from the African Development Bank, the Government of Netherlands and the African Green Growth & Development Forum, as part of the process for the development of the NCEP.
“The scope of the study is basically to carry out feasibility studies of all Circular Economy and Natural Capital Accounting Activities in the country and develop a Circular Economy Road Map Framework to guide Nigeria’s transition to a more circular economy in the short, medium and long terms (2023-2050).
“It is on this note that the European Union through the Switch to Green facility is providing support for the development of the Nigeria circular roadmap and the stakeholders inception workshop was held on August, 17th, 2023 during which the draft roadmap was presented to stakeholders for their comments and contribution.”
The Policy Adviser, Economic Affairs and Policy Diplomacy, The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Opeyemi Oriniowo, stated that the workshop will help to have a coordinated framework for the transition from linear to circular economy.
Oriniowo affirmed that the circular economy will create a continuous cycle where nothing in the economy is wasted, and pollution is eliminated.
“The roadmap is about bringing the stakeholders together and putting together a framework that will be owned by the entire system, the stakeholders in the country, not just the government and it will be cascaded to the households in terms of how we dispose of our wastes, electricity, and others.
“According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the circular economy is estimated to have an investment potential of $3tn annually available to Africa. Just imagine if Nigeria is able to access 50 per cent of that resources as investment; it opens up a new sector of opportunities for the country,” he said.
On her part, the Head of green and digital economy, EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Inga Stefanowicz, said the deve of the roadmap for the circular economy is funded by the switch to green facilities and provides the experts and costs to carry out the work.
“The work is done primarily with FMoE to look at the policy level and the need to operationalise and enforce the policy.
“We are also supporting the government with the preparation and adoption of plastic waste regulation, which is another way of operationalising circular economy in the country,” Stefanowicz noted.
She declared that the circular economy will develop the economy, help businesses to be established, and create jobs.
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