Customs officers, security services and environmental workers in Nigeria have been given instructions to clamp down on illegal imports of WEEE into the country. Nigeria will now be working more closely with the EU and the USA to ensure stricter control of cross-border e-waste trading.
The disposal of electronic waste in Nigeria has become a big problem with much of the waste arriving in the country disguised as second hand goods. Large environmental organizations such as Greenpeace are championing the cause.
A report published in 2007 by Basel Action Network said that some 500 containers with 400,000 second-hand computers were unloaded every month in Lagos. This waste can contain substances such as lead, cadmium and mercury which are an environmental and health hazard.
‘All the security agencies are to work in a coordinated manner to ensure that the incidents of dumping and open-air burning of these electronic items are stopped forthwith,’ says Environment Minister John Odey said in a statement in Abuja.