The Society for the Promotion of People’s Rights, an NGO, has urged relevant stakeholders on effective collaboration to protect and preserve ozone layer in the country.
Mr Williams Osaze, the National President of the organization, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
Osaze said that the collaboration would strongly safeguard ozone layer and proffer solutions to address other environmental issues in the country.
He also called on international organisations to support the government with reasonable funding to curb the environmental challenges.
The challenges include climate change, biodiversity, deforestation and land degradation.
According to him, the ozone layer depletion is a global environmental problem.
“Therefore protecting the ozone layer is a global responsibility and must be tackled through collaborative effort from the relevant stakeholders.
“The ozone serves as a protective layer over the earth surface by absorbing and bouncing back the dangerous ultra violets and rays of sun.
“The chemicals on coming in contact with the ozone layer, react with the layer and cause a reduction in its concentration, leading to a hole known as the ozone hole,’’ he said.
The national president said that the ozone layer depletion could lead to skin cancer, eye cataracts and reduction in animal immune system, among others.
He said that measures to protect the ozone layer were the phase-out of the use of the ozone depleting substances.
He explained that the ozone depleting substances were man-made gases that destroyed ozone once they reached the ozone layer.
“The ozone layer sits in the upper atmosphere and reduces the amount of harmful ultra violet radiation that reaches earth from the sun.
“As well, I will put it that the ozone depleting substances are those chemicals that destroy the earth`s protective ozone layer which include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), carbon tetrachloride (CCI4) and others.
Osaze called on government agencies to strengthen collaboration with Chemical Regulatory Companies in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning sector to implement those policies and programmes that would tackle the ozone layer depletion.
He also urged the companies to ensure effective training of their technicians on energy efficiency practices in the sector.
Osaze said that the training and retraining of the technicians and implementation of programmes would also help the sector convert to ozone friendly technologies.
He said that the effort would as well encourage the companies to produce ozone friendly products, thereby supporting in the protection and preservation of the ozone layer in the country.