Technology workshop to tackle e-waste

This year’s edition of the Technology and Nigerian Environment Conference (TNEC 2011) slated to hold in Lagos, would be tackling electronic waste (e-waste).

Group coordinator of the project being organized by AIT Infotech Network, Mr. Bayero Agabi said that the theme of the even would be ‘Tackling electronic waste: A moral obligation and investment opportunity.’

The event, he said, is a follow up on last year’s successful edition which focus was on using appropriate technologies to address e-waste and climate change.

He also said that the annual event is meant to address the growing challenges of global warming, paying special attention on electronic waste.

The conference, he said, is organized in partnership with IT Edge, to ensure that the citizens and the government understand the growing need to recognize that addressing climate change is both a moral obligation as well as one which presents an investment opportunity for stakeholders if explored.

The center of attention on e-waste, he said, was informed by disturbing statics which shows that Nigeria is the largest dumping ground for electronic waste citing a recent release by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental group.

This, he said, revealed that an estimate of 500 shipping containers with a load equal in volume to 400,000 computer monitors or 175,000 large TV sets are shipped into Lagos each month. Even as much as 75 per cent of such shipments are classified as e-waste.

He noted that environmental protection was not only a moral obligation but also a business opportunity which is why the conference will provide stakeholders and investors an opportunity of discussing the effects of the continued importation of second hand electronics and offering investors opportunity of meeting with industry experts on establishing recycling plants which he said is a money spinning venture.

“It will also serve as an avenue to educate the average Nigerian that ‘Tokunbo’ electronics as they are commonly called are not as cheap as they appear considering the cost of maintaining them and the health hazards they pose,” he said.

Further, he said, that Lagos generates about 9,000 metric tones of wastes daily, whereas 80 per cent of this waste could be recycled and thus affecting the nation’s economy.

“TNEC 2011 is endorsed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and National Office for Technology Acquisition (NOTAP) and the event is slated for July 15 in Lagos, at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers at the instance Federal and State Ministries of Science & Technology, Health & Environment,” he said.

The conference, he said, would explore ways Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) could promote environmental performance, address climate change and improve the economy while articulating a holistic approach for tackling e waste and climate change.

Delegates, he said, would be drawn from the Ecological Fund, NESREA, NOTAP the Maritime and Shipping sector, local manufacturing companies and traders from Alaba International and Computer Village adjudged Africa’s biggest electronic/computer markets.

Remmy Nweke:
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