Manufacturing and businesses must coexist harmoniously with the environment 

 - Cletus Olebune

            courtesy of nel-mag.org

Reflections:

Hello Friends, it’s been few months since I last bothered you. In this month’s newsletter, I will briefly reflect on the environment. As a reminder, December 2006 is still the clean up month for all the manufacturing mess or waste. December newsletter will detail the importance of environmental awareness by manufacturing companies. In the last newsletter article, I talked about ways nuclear energy helps advance environmentally sensitive manufacturing practices in a technologically competitive industrial focused society. 

    This month’s reflection “manufacturing and businesses must coexist harmoniously with the environment”, while not focusing on manufacturing waste clean up (a subject of December newsletter), emphasizes on legislative awareness and enforcement practices to check hazardous work environment and illegal dumping of solid hazardous wastes, particularly those of infectious material in a society such as Nigeria where public health has been hijacked by political and “non-profit” entrepreneurs. More on “non-profit” entrepreneurship in the November newsletter, as I reflect on Social Entrepreneurship – the Nigerian perspective and the mindset. October 2006 newsletter will be on Serial Entrepreneurs – who is and who is not. 

I am inspired to reflect on medical waste management not only because I have recently involved myself in a biohazard waste management start up, or as a candidate for a graduate degree in environmental public health & biostatistics, but because of recent experience I had while trying to help my brother in Nigeria acquire incineration machine. The process was an opportunity to learn first hand, how biohazard waste is managed in Nigeria and how healthcare workers daily do their jobs in environment that is not conscious of the risk involved in a population ravaging with HIV/AIDS epidemic. The news and answers to my questions as to how medical waste are disposed in Nigeria made me cringe in a world where increased awareness of the occupational hazards of medical waste is as clear as July daylight. Management of medical waste is very much dictated by the prevailing legislation as well as public perception. Economic, environmental, and occupational safety issues also play a key role in the management of medical waste. Without emphasizes on legislative awareness and enforcement practices, beach wash-ups of medical waste and other illegal dumping practices will consume Nigeria to the point that children will be at risk in the play grounds.

Another waste dumping concern is the increased number of used unserviceable computers. While the Nigeria government may not see the immediate danger, majority of the imported computer equipment is unusable and neither economically repairable or resalable. Regulatory carelessness or ignorance on the part of the government obviously will be the reason ten or twenty years from now, we will be wondering what happened, and why the increase in number of children suffering from mental problems. Used computers contain toxic materials that are harmful to humans and the environment. These toxins are lead, flame-retardants and cadmium. Nigeria is, however, slothful to enforce environmental laws, even in cases where direct and observable pollution is established. In the case of toxic materials from used electronic equipment, the pollution is often imperceptible. But there is no doubt that the unserviceable items end up in dump sites, and are sometimes burnt, or in landfills where overtime they contaminate the soil and drinking water. It is therefore urgent to recognize the enormity of the problems, especially for Nigeria’s big cities.

As always, the goal of my reflections is to focus on problems while not providing solutions. It is just my way of providing awareness, so that innovative entrepreneurs can provide solutions to the problems, in essence while the entrepreneurs are helping solve people problems, they at the same time will be making money while growing their businesses. My job here is not to give innovative entrepreneurial solution ideas. But as a research and consulting organization, we do have innovative entrepreneurial solution ideas that I believe will solve most problems raised in my monthly reflections.

Cletus E. Olebunne

Executive Director
Entrepreneurial Leadership Insight:
http://nel-m.org/index_files/page0045.htm

September 2006

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Together we can build a nation where its economic strength is comparable to its individual citizen's capabilities. A 2020 Nigeria economy where manufacturing is the driving force. We are always glad to hear from you. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cletus E. Olebunne, Is the Executive Director of Nigerian Entrepreneurial Leadership (www.nel-m.org ) An accomplished scientist, and entrepreneur in the global healthcare product distribution. He is the founder of Eastern Pharmaceuticals (www.easternpharmaceuticals.com), a global distributor of healthcare products based in New Jersey. An active member of Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS), the global pharmaceutical regulatory body, the American Chemical Society, and the American Management Association (AMA).
The NEL organization seeks to:
1 Support and promote a community of entrepreneurs
2 Promote public understanding of manufacturing entrepreneurship
3 Promote and enhance the role models that reflect the ideals of manufacturing entrepreneurship
4 Be the source for information about best practices in business leadership.