By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer  (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida has canvassed for conscious measures to reduce the electronic waste generated by the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools in the country.

Dr. Maida made this call at the 2023 ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue which held at the prestigious Welcome Center Hotels, International Airport Road, Lagos recently with the theme: You can recycle anything with a plug, battery, and cable.

The NCC EVC/CEO, who was represented by a Director at NCC from the Department of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Dr. Lawal Bello said that this had become imperative given the dynamism in the techno-economic landscapes.

Nigeria, Maida said, stood to benefit more by taking conscious measures to reduce the e-waste generated using ICT Tools and equipment in the country.

“This will not only save the country’s expenditure but also less e-waste to manage,” he said.

Maida listed some E-Waste benefits and opportunities associated with conscious efforts, asserting that the environmental and economic benefits of recycling telecom equipment abound.

Recycling telecom equipment, for instance, he said, could reduce Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, save energy, and prevent e-waste from polluting the environment.

“It can also generate value for telcos by reusing, repairing, or reselling hardware and devices,” he said.

The best practices of telcos embracing sustainability, he said, would entail that some telcos should launch initiatives to promote recycling and circularity, as UK Vodafone’s internal asset marketplace, which allowed operators to repurpose excess or decommissioned hardware, or its device trade-in programme, which encouraged customers to return their old devices for recycling or refurbishment.

He pointed out that other telcos had set ambitious targets to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their use of renewable energy.

Nigerian telecoms operators and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) manufacturers, Maida advised, could adopt device trade-in.  This, the NCC boss advised, would be nudged to adopt similar ideas on device trade-in programmes to reduce E-waste in the country especially for mobile phones and tablets.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Group Executive Editor of ITREALMS Media and convener of the E-Waste Dialogue, Sir Remmy Nweke, applauded participants and partnering entities like the NCC, Internet Exchange of Nigeria ( IXPN), Domain Name System (DNS) Women Nigeria as well as Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Nigeria IT Reporters Association (NITRA), Waste Managers of Nigeria and E-waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria (EPRON) for their consistency in supporting the advocacy, stressing the need for consumers to positively dispose their mobile devices for the sake of  the future and environment.