The Director-General, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Idris Musa on Thursday called for robust environmental management plans to address oil-devastated land in Nigeria.
Musa made the call at the 60th anniversary of the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology (CPEB), Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan.
He said, in order to ensure effective management of environmental plans, governments and organisations must check human practices related to oil production, farming and deforestation.
“Certain crops grow under certain conditions. If we now make everywhere arid or semi-arid, some crops will not thrive under direct sunlight.
“Selected crops need some kind of shade, like cocoa, coffee and yam, and as such we have to be careful,” Musa said.
The DG further explained that the relationship between fuel and food was multi-faceted and inter-connected with various impacts on production and availability of each.
According to him, to achieve the vision of a food-secured nation, there must be a serious revamping approach to environmental management.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Dr Johnson Adetunbi, stressed the need for a positive mindset of Nigerians on environment.
He tasked young agriculturists on the present challenges in the country and find ways of improving their livelihood and contribute to the nation’s development.
Also in his address, the representative of Oyo State Coffee and Tea Association of Nigeria, Salihu Imam, said the first step in food sufficiency was mass agricultural production.
“Government should look for a way to reduce inflation and increase production, especially in agriculture,” Imam said.
The Chief Operating Officer of Harvestfield Industries Ltd., Dr Abdullahi Ndaruba, said there was the need to encourage local production and patronise locally-produced goods to reduce the pressure on foreign exchange.
Ndaruba called for the effective implementation of policies and framework on environmental management, as well as use of biological materials in production of pesticides.
“Also there is the need for the enforcement of regulations by government agencies saddled with the responsibility of compliance and standards to ensure the safe use of pesticides in Nigeria,” he said.
