The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON), Sanitarian Yakubu Baba has sought for Public Private Partnership to mitigate environmental health challenges and create roadmap that will ensure sustainable environmental health program.
Baba while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria National Environmental Health Business Forum stated that the issue of environmental business forum was birthed as a result of challenges that have been noticed as regulators of environmental health.
According to Baba, the forum is going to be an eye opener for the practice of environmental health in a renewed effort to rebrand the profession and also migrate the profession from analogue to digital training with the private sector involvement.
He explained that the business forum was birthed as a result of the new law and believe with the consolidation of the legislation that established the council, government alone cannot deliver environmental health.
“So we need to also create an enabling environment for the private sector for contribution, we believe that there are lots of opportunities in the environmental health.
“It is our believe and with our meagre resources at all levels of government, environmental health cannot be delivered by government alone”
“We are thinking outside the box and have invited experts in different fields of environmental practice to come so that we can charge a new course to create opportunities, look at the challenges and also come up with a roadmap that we can bring sustainable environmental health program”.
Continuing, Baba noted that the 3 day deliberation would provide 10,000 jobs within the sphere of environmental health, and identify players who knows the rules and regulations guiding the practice of environmental health.
Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi on his part
stated that environmental health risks and exposures are responsible for nearly half of the global burden of morbidity.
Abdullahi noted that there are ample opportunities for the private sector to cash in on effort to solve intractable environmental health and these opportunities may not be harnessed except with the resolute determination of the environmental business community.
Abdullahi explained that government is concerned about the quality of service delivery in the environmental sector and insists that operators must imbibe the principles of duty of care, ensure protection and preservation of the environment and above all, work within the confines of a circular economy, which emphasize a green economy.
“This therefore requires every professional to work within stipulated guidelines and standards, especially as regards climate health.
“The environmental health industry went by the policy guidelines and instruments developed by the Ministry has enormous potential to become automated and viable. through strict adherence to provisions.
“These Guidelines are expected to lead you to not only any legitimate income as private operators on one hand, but also on the other protecting the environment and the health of Nigerians.”. He added