Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke of Reading University, United Kingdom, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to holistically queue into the Green Wall Transition for national growth.
He stated this at the opening of a two-day technical workshop on capacity assessment held at the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST), Zaria, Kaduna State.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the workshop was organised by the University of Reading in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and NILEST.
He said the call became imperative in view of the fact that African countries needed to transit from dirty development to green development to achieve a robust economy.
Okereke lamented that the bulk of African development had continued to depend on extractions of mineral resources and selling same to developed countries, sometimes much cheaper than their worth.
The don also expressed regret that the third world countries ended up re-importing the finished products coming from those natural resources at much higher costs.
He contended that such a situation was not sustainable as the resources wore out with time.
According to him, if Nigeria fails to diversify its economy in the near future, it will be forced to “drink its oil as no cars will be run using oil.”
“It is certain that if we add value to our natural resources, the country would be more peaceful, more secured and prosperous, as there will be more job vacancies and everybody will be engaged.”
He recalled that in 2015, the U.K. government made available £1.5 billion and called for proposals from the academic community to undertake research germane to understanding core challenges facing developing countries and how those challenges could be overcome.
Okereke said: “Over 270 applications were received and 20 grants were offered and I was fortunate to be among the 20 people that received some money from the U.K. government to undertake the research under the theme: “Global Challenges Research Funds (GCRS).
“In my proposal, I argued that we must begin to explore other ways to strengthen African economy to move away from the hitherto fixation and domination of natural resources exploitation.
“One of the key things I suggested was to add value to our natural resources.
‘‘When you add a little bit value on the oil you produce, you significantly increase the number of jobs and also wealth creation.
“The same applies to hides and skins, the moment you add value to hides and skins, you create factories, you create jobs, you increase prosperity and you reduce the amount of natural crude exploitation.”
He said after the research, they identified key barriers that were hindering Africans from making the transition to include; infrastructure, policy, institution and lack of capacity among others.
Declaring the workshop opened, the Director-General, NILEST, Dr Eucharia Ngozi-Oparah, described green growth as a recent phenomenon for economic transformation, resilience and sustainable development.
She observed that transition to green economy requires development and deployment of a range of essential technical, organisational and institutional capacities and careful cultivation of a green innovation system.
The director-general identified limited capacities as one of the main barriers hindering the transition to green economy in Nigeria.
She stated that it was evident in the little efforts that had been devoted to systematically identify the existing capacities, assets and gaps.
According to her, Nigeria must its capacity in the areas of institutional level mobilisation and allocating budget for knowledge development.
Others are; organisational level-to increase participation in mainstream processes and individual level-in developing and formulating policies for effective financial management.
“For this technical assessment to be effective in Nigeria, the areas of the industry, agriculture, energy and environment in general must be critically looked into.
“It is on this back-drop that this institute has embarked on the innovation of integrated technology strategy for tannery effluent (waste water) treatment in Nigeria.
“This technology has the justification of reducing to the barest minimum the effect of untreated tannery waste water on humans, plants, environment and animals,” she said.
Earlier, the Director, Environmental Science and Technology Department, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr Peter Ekweozoh, said the workshop was meant to fill the assessment gap towards green transition.
The director, who was represented by Mr Ezenwa Ifeobu, urged the participants to take advantage of the training to positively impact on the environment.
