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Wikipedia describes electronic waste or e-waste as
discarded electrical or electronic devices. It added that they are used
electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling or
disposal are also considered e-waste. Surprisingly, these discarded electronic
devices don’t end up in China, The United States of America, Indonesia, and
England. They come straight to Africa and route it to Nigeria. So, why is
Nigeria an attractive destination for e-waste? Jumia Travel, identifies 5
reasons.
We love cheap products
Cheap products and some Nigerians are like Siamese
twins. They are inseparable. Funny enough, some sellers will encourage you to
buy a fairly used product rather than a new one. This, according to them, is
because the fairly used one is better when it comes to quality. This is perhaps
why we have fairly used gadgets flooding the country. Also, they are very
cheap. For some Nigerians, it’s cost over quality. In a recent report, “Nigeria
dangerously consumes technologies which have 90% foreign input and a paltry 10%
local input.”
Non-performing government agencies
The acting head of the Standard Organization of Nigeria
(SON) Paul Angya said recently SON has no opportunity to inspect goods brought
in through Nigerian seaports which account for over 90% of goods brought into
the country as the agency is not allowed to operate in the ports thereby making
smugglers of fake products have a field day. If 90% of goods entering this
country are not checked, you can only imagine how many of them are e-waste. We
also have Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency and The National
Standards and Regulations Environmental Agency. They are arguably lame duck
government bodies.
Corruption
It is no gainsaying corruption has eaten into the
fabric of the Nigerian society. The customs and even SON who are in charge of
checking these products may simply turn a blind eye to these e-wastes as far as
you can rub their palms or make them happy!
We don’t manufacture anything
A country that doesn’t manufacture anything opens the
door for anything to come in including e-waste. This is why the recession is
shattering the economy. We only rely on importers to import everything we use
in this country.
Anything sells in Nigeria
If Nigerians can buy drugs in commercial buses, then
what else can’t they buy? We have the population. So, since anything sells in
Nigeria and the business environment is poorly regulated, then e-waste will
continue to be dumped in the country despite the toxic dangers inherent in
them. And trust Nigerians, they will gladly
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