NEDC: Bringing Succour to the North-east through Waste  to Wealth Strategy

The North-east region has been bedevilled by a decade-long siege of Boko Haram terrorists which has resulted in nearly 350,000 deaths, with 314,000 of those from indirect causes. The insecurity situation also displaced over two million people and rendered the economy of the region in tatters. Thus, the North East Development Commission was established to breathe life into the region. Now with so many interventions already, it has now moved up the ante with the introduction of another strategy of building wealth from waste, Michael Olugbode reports

Conflict can severely disrupt economic activities through the destruction of productive assets, diversion of resources, death and injury to the population, and damage to health and education systems. Many studies have found that political instability and conflict have a dampening effect on economic growth.

 North-eastern Nigeria is not an exemption to this rule ae the Boko Haram crisis that has been on since 2009 has further damaged an economy that has been disadvantaged for ages with factors like inequality,
low agricultural productivity, and high unemployment, especially among youth tearing the region apart. 

With the insurgency sucking life off the region, agricultural production, the dominant economic sector in the region, has been mortally affected; also buildings and transportation infrastructure have been destroyed, while road closures and military bans have impeded the movement and sale of certain goods, with many businesses fully or partially closed, investment reduced, and market activity nearly in comatose. 

A World Bank assessment estimated cumulative GDP losses from 2011 to 2015 at $6.21 billion ($3.54 billion in Borno, $1.57 billion in Adamawa, and $1.1 billion in Yobe), the three most affected states by Boko Haram.

In fact, the conflict has drastically reduced
agricultural production and productivity; land has been abandoned by agricultural workers who were either killed or displaced and the few that stay may have shifted to lower-risk crops or cut back investment, with agriculture, the main economic activity in North-eastern Nigeria, which employs between 65 and 80 per cent of the populations of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe and the rest of the North-east with the contribution of over half of the regional GDP at the precipice.

Knowing that something urgently was needed to show that the government, especially the federal government, cares; this gave room for the creation of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) by the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The NEDC has subsequently moved in to placate the exacerbated situation left by over a decade crisis which reality has shown by environmental degradation, low productivity, and high sensitivity to climatic factors. The crisis has also left the NEDC with a Herculean task of rebuilding Infrastructure which was destroyed by Boko Haram and has left the overwhelming number of the population with no access to safe sanitation and 30 per cent to electricity, while 90 per cent reported difficulty accessing water.

 During the conflict, electricity, energy, and telecommunications networks have been destroyed or damaged. Construction work was halted while investment stalled, putting planned improvements on hold. 

An estimated 75 per cent of all water and sanitation infrastructure was destroyed. A World Bank assessment estimated the cost of conflict’s damage to infrastructure and social services across North-eastern Nigeria at nearly $9 billion ($6.9 billion in Borno, $1.2 billion in Yobe, and $829 million in Adamawa). This left a huge yearning for reconstruction to which NEDC is championing in the region.

The Commission since its establishment in 2017, following the passing of the bill for its establishment by the National Assembly and subsequently signing of its Act by the President on October 25, 2017, has moved steadily to provide housing, healthcare and economic empowerment as well as help in the revamping of agriculture in the six North-east states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe.

One of its recent programme was the launch of the Education Endowment Fund Scholarship in which 4,953 undergraduates, 102 postgraduates and 42 PhD potential students have a chance of obtaining full scholarship awards. These scholarship awards are to be given to deserving science and arts students to be selected equitably from the six states of the North-east. 

Also 1,800 teachers of the Basic Education segment from the six states of the North-east, have been trained to improve their skills so as to impart knowledge in their respective areas of competence, with another batch of 1,800 including school administrators which are to be selected soon across the states would benefit from the same training.

 Similarly, a total of 115 schools have been selected and contracts have been awarded for the construction of one block of three classrooms each, with the supply of school desks and learning materials.

After notable impact in so many areas, the NEDC decided to shift focus to solving the serious challenge the people of the North-east region are  facing in the area of effective management of the increasing amount of solid and liquid wastes being produced almost on daily basis. These wastes include plastic, organic, vegetable waste materials as well as  glass and metal waste materials and the need to turn it to wealth for the people.

According to Nigerian waste management, the country generates more than 32 million tons of solid waste annually without any efficient way of managing it. Without any tangible or viable solution to the problem, NEDC acting true to being a responsive and proactive organisation, felt it should fill this gap by taking the initiative to save the environment from the health hazard associated with waste disposal and also tap into the countless of opportunities in the growing waste market to lift thousands of youths out of poverty.

Against the background of high rate of youth unemployment in the region, NEDC initiated a training programme for youths on how best to convert waste to wealth in a bid to improve their socio-economic life.

In a programme which is taking place simultaneously in all the six states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe, designed to expose the youths to business opportunities available in the environment by engaging them in wealth creation through the recycling of waste materials  into marketable products for the society, NEDC has already assembled seasoned and experienced experts for the training sessions. 

During the sessions youths are impacted with the needed knowledge and skills so as to achieve the desired results of improving their standard of living by generating incomes through materials in the environment. The experts focused on the stereotypes associated with scavenging, personal hygiene and protection practices by scavengers, strategies for building sustenance waste to wealth recycling system in the North East. Other areas which were deliberated on include understanding the concept of waste management and recycling, types and nature of recyclable polymers and how to market recycled products in Nigeria and beyond.

The weeklong programme tagged: “Training on Efficient Waste Management Practices and A-Z of Recycling”  has its focal point on promoting economic growth and development through youth engagement, which is in line with the overall goal and mandate of the NEDC centred around socio-economic empowerment of the people which will aid and facilitate in the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation of the entire region.

The commission decided on this programme for it believes there is the need to nurture the culture of turning wastes into valuables within the rules and norms of the society by creating a business around recycling and converting materials superficially viewed as waste in the environment to valuable and marketable products end products for societal use.

It is convinced that the initiative is beneficial to the region on two fronts as it will help to generate wealth for individuals and also save the environment as indiscriminate waste disposal would be reduced.

Speaking on the programme, the MD/CEO of the Commission, Mohammed Alkali, pointed out that the programme is geared towards ensuring that the youths are empowered with the knowledge which will keep them engaged and in turn produce wealth for them.

He said: “The waste-to-wealth skill acquisition programme, was a deliberate attempt aimed at channeling the   energy of the youths into a productive and profiting venture.

“Looking at our environment and we can see that a large number of youths are not gainfully employed and there are lots of our youths roaming around the streets.”

He noted that part of the intervention by the commission to reduce waste dumped in the states is to institute the process of turning waste to wealth, thereby creating employment to reduce poverty in the region, adding that the commission procured the services of seasoned consultants to deliver the contents of the programme and have been able to achieve the following:150 trainees as well as scavengers trained in each of the six states of the North East; delivered a robust public enlightenment on environmental matters; procured and distributed the following items to the scavengers: waste collection coats, scavenging booths, protective helmets, scavenging gloves, metal sticks. 

It has assisted in institutionalising the process of forming trade associations for viable waste collection trade across the region, supply a new washing and drying machine, supply a new PET plastic crushing machine. Certificates and starter packs were presented to all participants at the end of the training programme in the six states.

The programme is planned to reduce poverty in the region and this is in line with the NEDC Protection Plan and key Sustainable Development Goals, since if waste is turned to wealth, employment would be created and the bruises from Boko Haram would be healed.

Definitely NEDC is making progress, and gradually and surely the North-east is healing from the wounds of over a decade crisis that brought it on its knees!

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Against the background of high rate of youth unemployment in the region, the North East Development Commission initiated a training programme for youths on how best to convert waste to wealth in a bid to improve their socio-economic life