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Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Nigerian Thoracic Society (NTS) has called on federal government to revisit the clean stove initiative projects for households.
President of NTS, Prof. Etete Peters, who made the call on Thursday in Calabar during the Annual General Meeting/Scientific Conference of the society, said the project was launched by the previous administration with the aim of providing gas cooking stoves at a cheaper and affordable rate to Nigerians.
Peters said it is high time all members of the NTS in the country came up to the front burner of championing the fight against respiratory disease burden in the country.
He said: “The household air pollution has assumed a frightening dimension in Nigeria, with most households resorting to the use of cheaper sources such as biomass and fossil fuels for cooking with the attendant indoor pollution.
“We enjoin the federal government to revisit the clean stove initiative project for households and launched by the previous administration. the project will provide gas cooking stoves at a cheaper and affordable rate.”
The former Chief Medical Director, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, explained that the negative impact of environmental air pollution in Nigeria had caused adverse effects on residents in most communities and towns in the country.
According to him, reports of black smooth covering the city of Portharcourt still pose a serious danger to the lives of the people in that city.
He wondered why the government has not taken any drastic action to ameliorate the effects of the soothes on the innocent citizens of the affected communities.
He also called on the federal government to enact laws that will compel petrochemical companies to properly dispose the waste products of their refining process.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the event, Prof. Rowland Ndoma-Egba, said that the environment was important to the growth and survival of all living beings.
Ndoma-Egba, a former Chief Medical Director, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, said the government should be very proactive in waste collection and disposal to avoid outbreaks of dangerous organisms.
“If some of these refuse gets into water supply; we will have various forms of water-borne diseases that can affect us negatively”, he said.
Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Prof. Chibueze Njoku, said that the focus of the conference was to bring the society in line with the current happenings in the ecosystem.
