The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has urged government at all levels to ensure strict implementation and enforcement of environmental laws to protect the ecosystem.

The NCF director-general, Dr Joseph Onoja, made the call in an interview with journalists in Lagos.

Mr Onoja said that the country’s environmental laws were being impeded by lack of implementation and enforcement to address environmental challenges.

He said that the country would continue to experience environmental challenges with weak enforcement.

“We call on the government to implement environmental laws so that the greedy actions of very few people will not affect others.

“We have beautiful laws even though they are not all-encompassing; if the government can start implementing these laws, we will go a long way.

“We appeal to the government to enforce our environmental laws,” he said.

Mr Onoja noted that defaulters of the environmental laws should be brought to book to create sanity in the country.

He, however, called on Nigerians to support the government and its agencies by ensuring that the rules were not being violated.

He said that flooding would continue to be an issue in the country if people continue to block water channels.

“We have sand filled all our wetlands and water does not forget its level so if the water does not have anywhere to go, it will come back to flood our homes and the roads and destroy properties” he added.

“Even the waterways that the government and the communities have created for water to pass freely, some people have gone ahead to block it either deliberately building on the waterway or blocking it with plastics,” he said.

“We will continue to talk about flooding till everyone is aware because if we don’t take heed, it will have a way of coming back to bite us,” he said.

He added that the NCF would do everything within its powers to make people conscious of their environment to ensure the protection of the ecosystem.

(NAN)