Yesterday, i was invited by the World Bank to attend the launch and inception workshop of the Nigeria Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Management Project.
Before i recieved an invite late last week, i have never heard about PCB and its tongue twisting full name. As i have been made to understand, PCBs were widely used as dielectric and coolant fluids, for example in transformers, capacitors and electric motors. However, as far back as 1979, PCB production was banned by the United States Congress and also in 2001 by the Stockolm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants which Cameroun, Nigeria, Uganda, Gambia, and Egypt among several other African Countries have signed and ratified.
The ban on PCBs was effected and grabbed international attention because it has been shown to cause cancer in animals and can also cause cancer among other diseases in humans.
With a $6.5million grant from the Global Environmental Facility and technical support from the World Bank, the Nigerian Government through the Ministry of Environment is poised to take a number of steps to raise awareness, educate stakeholders and map out strategies to phase out the use of PCBs in Nigeria.
This is set to be a long term project and i hope that the Government is committed to see this to its very end.
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Rotimi Olawale
Rotimi Olawale, co-founder of youthhubafrica.org is a youth development expert. For more than six years he has been involved in leading youth advocacy efforts mainly around the Millennium Development Goals. In 2006, he represented Nigeria as a youth ambassador at the United Nations Global Youth Leadership Summit held at the UN Headquarters in New York. Rotimi has held several global leadership positions including; member, UNFPA Global Youth Advisory Panel for 2 years; member, African Youth Panel. Rotimi is currently involved in shaping local, national and global policies to benefit youth and also leverage opportunities for young people. He was listed by the Nigerian government as one of 15 Nigerian youth on the world stage in 2008.
