MUNICIPAL and industrial pollution has been identified as a major environmental problem in Nigeria, as most cities lack proper solid waste management schemes.
Presenting a paper entitled “Achieving Environmental Sustainability in Nigeria in Line with ‘Laudato Si’ of Pope Francis Encyclical on the Environment” at the Kolping Society of Nigeria (KSN) auditorium, Umuahia, Abia State, during the 2016 Bishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji’s annual public lecture organised by the Kolping Society of Nigeria, the Mater Dei Catholic cathedral administrator and lecture presenter, Very Reverend Father Paschal Okechukwu Opara, stated that the monitoring and control of industrial waste was inefficient.
He pointed out that, “in many cases, effluents from industrial processes are simply allowed to flow into public drains and rivers where they can percolate into surface or ground water.”
In order to achieve environmental sustainability in Nigeria, he stressed the need for environmental education among the populace.
Earlier in her address, the KSN Executive Director, Mary Genevieve Okoro, stated that Kolping encourages individuals to take active part in the social, political and religious activities in their locality and using their God-given talents to serve the church and society in which they live.