Kogi govt warns against indiscriminate dumping of refuse
Solar water heaters will save electricity – NESP
The Kogi State Commissioner of Environment, Stephen Tayo Aremu, has warned residents in the state against indiscriminate dumping of refuse in Lokoja metropolis and its environs to ensure easy evacuation.
The commissioner stated this at the weekend while inspecting designated refuse dump areas within Lokoja metropolis to ascertained the extent of refuse which has piled up at the designate areas.
He said the government has provided refuse bins at designated areas within Lokoja and its environs for people to dump refuse for easy evacuation but that residents chose not to use them, saying that the development has made refuse evacuation difficult.
He appealed to the residents to cooperate with the government by dumping waste at designated areas adding that it would be forced to apply the environmental law in the state if they failed to change their attitude.
Aremu said that government is already discussing with the private sector to partner with them in order to ensure daily evacuation of refuse, adding that government is in the process of acquiring more trucks for evacuation.
Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) has reiterated that the use of solar water heaters will contribute to saving electricity and improved living conditions.
NESP, at a one-day workshop tagged, ‘Validation Workshop of the Solar Water Heater Feasibility and Design Study Report of Government Science School, Kuru in Jos’, said in comparison to electric water heating as base case, the investment payback period for solar water heaters is about five years with a carbon dioxide emission reduction of 95 tonnes per year.
Speaking at the event in Jos, Energy Efficiency Advisor at NESP, Ene Macharm said the result of a pilot study showed that about 68 units of 300 litre capacity solar water heaters will provide the hot water needs of 1,100 students in Government Science School Kuru, Jos.
Macharm said the result of the pilot project at GSS Kuru will be used to develop standards and incentive mechanisms for widespread roll-out of solar water heaters.
She emphasised that once completed, the solar water heater project will demonstrate the economic and technical viability of solar water heaters in Nigerian boarding schools.
The Energy Efficiency advisor said the pilot study will cost about N10 million to provide 34 fetching points, adding that the project will require stable water supply and effective electricity to work.
The permanent secretaries of the Ministries of Water Resources and Energy and that of Education, Hannatu Dantong and Ruth Biangten respectively said the workability of the project will give the state government strength in replicating it in other schools.
Biangten on her part further urged the Nigerian-German cooperation agency - Deutcsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusanmenarbeit (GIZ) - which is sponsoring the project to extend its lifespan taking into consideration the transition into a new government and the strike action embarked upon by the state government workers.