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JOE EFFIONG, UYO
A professor of Marine Atmosphere and Coastal Research Network, in the Faculty of Oceanography, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Prof. Francis Asuquo, has called for appropriate legislation to regulate proper plastics and other waste disposal especially at the Nigerian beaches.
According to Asuquo, such regulation has become not only necessary but urgent because the chemical additives used during the production of plastics have myriads of harmful effects on humans and aquatic animals which can cause cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, etc during ingestion of the food chains of the marine ecosystem
Speaking at the Ibeno Beach in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Monday when he led the Students of International Demonstration Secondary School, University of Calabar ,who were on research and laboratory analysis excursion to the beach, the don said plastics can undergo degradation by the action of heat, waves and tides during incineration process especially when they stay long in an environment.
He explained that excursion which is the second of such exercises undertaken by the institution, was sponsored by University’s Demonstration Secondary School in collaboration with the Faculty of Oceanography as well as the Partnership for the Observation of Global Ocean (POGO)
“Our quest to embark on the research and excursion exercise is to allow the secondary school students have a diversified knowledge about the marine and terrestrial environment as part of their curriculum in school
“Research is critical in order to obtain information, collect scientific data which can be presented to the government, environmental regulatory bodies and the legislators for laws to be made regulating the rate and the incessant plastic disposal in the Nigerian beaches and the world at large.
“The most invisible impacts of plastic debris are the ingestion, suffocation and entanglement of hundreds of marine species. Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fish and turtles mistake plastic waste for prey, and most of them die of starvation as their stomach becomes filled with plastics.
“The primary sources are from inland waterways that flow into the ocean, direct dumping of solid wastes into the coastal waters and drainages, indiscriminate dropping by tourists during visits to beaches is very dangerous and should properly managed for the sake and benefit of our health system” Asuquo said
Vincent Fidelis, an SSS2 Student of the institution expressed dismay over the attitude of individuals and tourists dumping plastic waste around the beach, adding that such attitude could cause cancer and other health challenges to animals and by extension, humans and the environment.
In their separate remarks, Miss Able-God Onda, Miss Agube Success and Miss Antonia Iya-Nya all researchers and students of the Institution expressed concern that Nigeria was being viewed in a negative perspective in terms of waste management by other countries adding that such could affect tourist attraction by investors and invariably affect the economic growth and development in the ecosystem.
They maintained that recycling of waste at Nigerian beaches should be revived and regulatory laws should be enforced so that defaulters should be punished to serve as a deterrent to other members of the public.
