Parts Central Limited said it is set to take its waterways clean-up initiative to Port Harcourt, Rivers State as part of efforts to tackle indiscriminate waste disposal and pollution across Nigeria’s waterways.
This came as the company disclosed plans to transform plastic waste, water hyacinth and other marine litter into economic wealth through recycling, biofuels and other value-added processes.
The Managing Director of the company, Henry Olaoluwa Onifade, who disclosed this in Lagos while interacting with maritime journalists in Logos on Thursday said the initiative, launched first in Lagos in partnership with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is being expanded to other parts of the country.
Onifade said the programme goes beyond clearing waste from waterways, as the company is developing systems to collect, sort and process recovered materials into useful products and create economic opportunities.
He said plastic waste would be sorted for recycling, while biodegradable materials, including water hyacinth and other organic waste, would be processed into manure, biofuels, and other products.
“One of the organisations that came to that event the other day asked us what is going to be the end product of all the biodegradable waste after sorting the plastics for possible recycling.
“They were thinking about the biodegradable waste and how we are going to dispose of it. But those biodegradables are something that we will still recycle for different things — manure and different other things. So, there is nothing that is waste,” he said.
Onifade said the nationwide clean-up programme would be driven by data and technology, stressing that it had spent considerable time building a database of facilities and communities connected to Nigeria’s inland waterways.
He said the company was working with the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) as a technology partner to develop the database, which will cover ports, jetties, landing points, riverbanks, dockyards, villages and other locations connected to the waterways.
“We are going to use technology to have the database of all ports and jetties in Nigeria, all landing ports and jetties, all riverbanks and every area where people and villages, dockyards and everything that has to do with the water are located.
“We need the data because if you don’t have data of the people you want to cater for, you won’t know how to cater for them.” he said.
Onifade said the growing interest from government agencies, ministries, associations and other stakeholders in cleaner waterways was an indication that the initiative was addressing a critical national challenge.
He noted that the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) was also engaging stakeholders on reducing plastic pollution in waterways.
“We are happy that we can even think of a possible pollution-free waterways and roll it out. Since we rolled it out, we’ve heard of different people, associations, organisations and states that are now talking about it, which is very good for us,” he said.
“Our goal is for us to have pollution-free waterways. By God’s grace, we will integrate everybody who has a very good and genuine mindset that pollution-free waterways is possible in Nigeria.”
He said the database would enable the company and relevant government stakeholders to determine the volume of waste generated across different locations and deploy resources more effectively.
According to him, every jetty and landing port would be assessed to determine whether appropriate waste-management facilities were available, while boats and other watercraft would also be incorporated into the data-gathering process.
Onifade explained that the company had spent considerable time testing different technologies and devices capable of tackling waterway pollution, adding that the exercise would eventually incorporate manufacturers and other stakeholders within the plastics and waste-management value chain.
On plans to extend the initiative beyond Lagos, Onifade said the company was currently putting structures in place to ensure that the exercise was properly coordinated and supported by data before expanding to additional locations.
He stressed that the long-term vision was to create a nationwide system where waterways would not only be cleaner but would also become sources of employment, enterprise and wealth creation.
“Our goal is for us to have pollution-free waterways,” he reiterated, adding that the company would continue to work with government agencies, communities, private-sector operators and other stakeholders towards achieving the objective.
Onifade urged Nigerians to embrace the concept of converting environmental challenges into economic opportunities, stressing that: “No more waste on the waterways; we will now have wealth on the waterways.”
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