Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has called on the federal government to ban the use of polythene bags in the country.
The UNDP Programme Officer, Mr. Mathew Alao, made the call on Friday in Abuja at a press conference commemorating the 2019 International Peace Day organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) with the theme, ‘Climate Action for Peace.’
The International Day of Peace, which is celebrated on September 21 across the world every year, was declared by the UN General Assembly to re-echo the significance of peace as a priceless infrastructure.
Alao said: “One action I want the government of this country to take is to stop the use of polythene bags. Our National Assembly should take it upon themselves. We should stop this madness because all these nylon that we throw around also constitute to our peace. Kenya has done it, Rwanda has done it, UK is doing it, we can do this in phases.”
Earlier, the Director General of IPCR, Bakut Tswah Bakut, said that universally, peace is the most valuable desire of every society, adding that its language is spoken by all.
The director general added that its absence communicates nothing else but destruction of lives and property leaving sorrows, pains and total disorder which are alien to civilised human society.
He stressed that the climate action for peace is expected to enhance various actions that would help address the activities that had negatively impacted the ecosystems.
Bakut noted that activities such as deforestation, inappropriate disposal of waste, tree-felling and air pollution, among others, leading to environmental degradation have reduced the natural and agricultural resources which everyone depends on for survival.
He noted that the resultant effects of the contestation occasioned by climate change have been maiming, killing and displacing people as well as destruction of property.
Bakut stated: “On our part, we have been building synergies through various intervention programmes towards combating the scourge of climate change for peaceful co-existence in Nigeria.
“Therefore, the partnering agencies have inadequately and collaboratively been charging in awareness creation, peace/climate change education, humanitarian intervention and other programmes that encourage the protection of our environment and further mitigate climate change.”
