The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has inaugurated what it called ‘Marine Litter Marshals’ to assist the agency in ridding the oceans of unwanted waste materials that could cause environmental degradation and also impede safety of navigation on the nation’s territorial waters.
Speaking during the flag-off ceremony held at the Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre in Lagos, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside charged Nigerians on the sustainable use of the ocean resources and added that there are so many activities dependent on the ocean; hence the need to ensure it is clean and properly utilized.
Accordingly, the DG said, “the state of health of the ocean is related to the state of our health and our economy; therefore we must stop the indiscriminate dumping of materials in our ocean”.
He further stated that, marine litter directly impacts on ocean life, marine habitats, human health, and navigational safety with potential impacts on socio-economic development of nations. This he stressed necessitated the Agency to collaborate with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Global Partnership Action (GPA) in 2015 to carry out a scientific study on marine litter challenge in Nigeria, thereby culminating to the development of the national action plan on marine litter and its campaign concept.
Dr. Peterside who used the opportunity to charge the marshals to go to the ports, coastlines and littoral communities and enlighten the people on the need to maintain cleaner oceans, also enjoined them to keep watch and ensure that the right thing is done so that our eco system can be preserved.
Also speaking at the event, a marine environment expert and the President of the Waste Management Society of Nigeria, Professor Osinbajo Oladele, applauded the initiative and described NIMASA as a beacon of hope to the rest of Africa. He said there is the need to preserve our oceans as it holds a lot of opportunities in developing the nation.
He stated further that there is the need for inter-generational equity of our resources, which means the survival of the eco system is dependent on this present generation as it will affect the future generation. “The environment is not a gift from our parents, but a loan from our children.
We must therefore do all we can to preserve it”, Professor Osinbajo said.
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