The United Nations (UN), yesterday, said for Nigeria to attain environmental sustainability, multinational oil corporations that must have polluted the communities where they explore, must be forced to carry out a total clean-up of their areas of operation.
This and more were raised when the Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the UN on MGDs, Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, led a delegation of three from the world body on a visit to the Chairman, Senate Committee on MDGs, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume in Abuja.
This is even as the apex world body said if Nigeria must end the present problem of flooding that submerged many communities, rendered many homeless, killed many and property worth millions of naira destroyed, the Federal Government must, as a matter of urgency, partner with the various varsities across the country.
“The universities in this country could and should play a larger role in brainstorming and analysing exactly the questions raised. Because each state has a federal university if I understand correctly, and each state has local academic and scientific knowledge that it could tap into” he said.
Sachs also reiterated the UN’s commitment to assist Nigeria on the issue. “In my capacity at the UN, I would like to help Nigeria to organise such an approach, so that every state could tap into its scientific expertise and those scientists could tap into this global network in an effective way so that you could get good answers that are not generalities, that are really directed towards the specific needs of every state.”
