 It is a special pleasure to celebrate the World Environment Day 2018 here in Nigeria, even as we joined the rest of the world on this special day. In one of its most inspired moments, the United Nations decided to set aside June 5th annually for reflection on the environmental state of the Earth. This place where we live, where our phobias have lived and where we intend that our descendants will live. The last two decades have shown that on account of damage to the environment, there are no guarantees that we can hand over a livable place to generations after us. That reality unfolds daily as we observe the consequences of climate change and the environmental abuses that cause it. This year, we are invited to reflect on what to do with plastic pollution. An environmental epidemic created daily, relentlessly by consumption habits that favour the one of use of plastics, plastic bags, plastic bottles, disposable cups, sweet wrappers and toys, most of which were already told will take between 500 to 1,000 years to degrade. Current research has also shown that plastics that have not been burnt or recycled could be in excess of 4.5 billion tons. Much of that has ended up in the oceans becoming almost impossible to retrieve. What still, salt and sunlight cause plastics to break into smaller pieces, microplastics which end up being eaten by fish and other marine creatures and this may even find their way into our males. The cost to fisheries, tourism and biodiversity is significant. On our part as the federal government of Nigeria, we've tried to remain ahead of the curve in planning, in policy and reform. The Ministry of Environment in collaboration with critical stakeholders have developed a national strategy for the phasing out of non-biodegradable plastics. The ministry has also developed a national plastic waste recycling programme involving the establishment of plastic waste recycling plans across the country in partnership with state governments. A total of eight plans have already been completed and handed over to the states while 18 others are at various stages of completion. In addition, the federal government is also collaborating with state governments to establish plastic waste recycling plans under the community-based waste management programme in the ministry. Two plans have been completed in the Lorry Inquirer State, one in Loko Jaya Kogi State, while work is going on on the one in Kareloka Government Area of Nassarawa State. In addition, there are two privately run programmes. They are Bola Jari, which are rough-leaming waste-to-wealth in Gumbay State and the Neda Jari, which are rough-leaming converting nylon bags to wealth in Kano State. These initiatives of course are also encouraged and supported by government. But there are of course questions about the limited options for cheap packaging of food and drinks, especially where consumers are relatively poor. Micro-marketing methods of fast-moving consumer goods such as drinking water in sachets, otherwise known as pure water. And the retaining of detergents, sugar and even milk in sachets have proved to be an effective means of selling these food and beverages in affordable portions to millions of consumers. So sale of items in cellophane bags may be easier to deal with. So Rwanda, Kenya, Bangladesh amongst others have done the use of cellophane bags with considerable success. It's my view that for controlling the proliferation of plastic sachets we must go back to the major producers of fast-moving goods to put in place recycling programmes that could effectively ensure that while we seek environmentally friendly options for packaging we are keeping the environment as free of plastics as possible. Coca-Cola has committed to collecting and recycling the equivalent of all drink containers it ships every year. This includes about 110 billion plastic bottles. Consumer goods giants such as Unilever and Procter and Gambo have also begun to use more recycled plastics. We expect that these consumer giants will make and fulfill these same pledges here in Nigeria and also partner with governments including state and local governments to ensure that we maintain the critical balance between economic growth and a safe and livable environment. Nigeria is in a good place to lead Africa and indeed the world in beating plastic pollution. They don't need to reinvent the wheel. There are a good number of effective initiatives already that we are considering as we develop policies. As our environmental expert, this is a likely term a lot we said. Aside from the responsibilities of governments there are also corporate and individual responsibilities. We can beat the plastic pollution. We can beat plastic pollution. We can beat this epidemic. But we certainly will achieve our objectives much faster if we all work together. Thank you very much for listening.