FG Hopeful Environmental Health Sector "II Transform Nigeria's Economy

FG Hopeful Environmental Health Sector "II Transform Nigeria's Economy 

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja 

The federal government has expressed optimism that the environmental health sub-sector would transform Nigeria's economy since its globally acclaimed as a tool for sustainable development. 

Minister of Environment, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar said this in Abuja over the weekend during the Expert Panel Discussion Session, at the just concluded maiden National Summit on Environmental Health, organised by Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) with the theme, "Rebranding Environmental Health Practice: Breaking Barriers, Unlocking Opportunities". 

The session was designed to engage with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) saddled with the responsibilities of financing human and social development needs of Nigerians, with a view to exposing Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) to monetary and technical interventions of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. 

He said the present administration has rolled out multiple interventions that empowered beneficiaries economically in line with the President's target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.

The minister stated that some of the interventions like the Central Bank of Nigeria’s environmental, health and safety programmes have direct linkage with the environmental health profession. 

He noted that the multi-MDA interventions coordinated under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) are consistently disbursing funds to beneficiaries, with a cumulative spending of trillions of naira to millions of Nigerians.

Abubakar enjoined EHPs to utilise the platform that would provide investment opportunities for unemployed environmentalists to become entrepreneurs and enviroprenuers, just as he called on the MDAs overseeing the Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNP) to integrate EHPs into their programmes as special and in-need group. 

He directed the Registrar of EHORECON, Dr Yakubu Baba to initiate a sustainable structure for the rebranding programmes, that should be reflected in the council's strategic and operational plans. 

On the, "The place of Environmental Health in NSIP", the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk assured that the ministry would make plans to mainstream environmental health into it's investment programme. 

She promised that the ministry would collaborate with EHORECON's Emergency Volunteers Corp and National Emergency Management Agency's (NEMA) Vanguard to respond effectively to emergencies.