•Body gives FG 16,000 metric tonnes of grains
The Parliament of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Parliament) has proposed a five-point action plan towards combating the challenges of plastic waste in the sub-region.
A member of parliament for Effutu, Majority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament and head of Ghana’s delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, who is also the third Deputy Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, made this known, yesterday, at the opening of a one-week meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Environment, Natural Resources, Energy and Mines Infrastructure holding in Winneba, Ghana.
He noted that the theme of the joint committee, ‘Plastic Waste Management: Challenges and Prospects in the Implementation of Community Activities’ was not merely a topic for academic discussion but a clarion call to action and a command to safeguard the very essence of West African identity.
Worried that West Africa was under siege, the Deputy Speaker noted that the rhythm of life along coastal towns and communities, such as Winneba, had been set by the ebb that greatly threatened ancient harmony.
The Parliamentarian decried that the economic toll of the menace was equally devastating as, according to him, each ton of plastic waste causing marine pollution costs the region between $10,000 and $33,000.
Earlier, the Speaker, ECOWAS Parliament, the Speaker, Economic Community of West African States’ Parliament (ECOWAS Parliament), Hadjia Mémounatou Ibrahima, blamed the menace on lack of infrastructure for collecting, sorting and processing plastic waste, warning that pollution caused by plastic waste may add to the problem of food insecurity in the sub-region.
MEANWHILE, ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve has given 16,299 metric tons of grains to the Federal Government in support of its efforts to boost food, nutrition in the lean period.
A breakdown of the figure showed that Nigeria received 1,300 metric tons of cereals in 2017; 5,000MT in 2019; 3,999MT in 2020 and 7,000 MT in 2024 as it contributed to strengthen the resilience of the populations affected by the difficult food and nutrition crisis.