The Polymer Institute of Nigeria (PIN) has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the institute’s bill, to enable it to perform its duties professionally, the former National President of the Institute, Prof. Paul Mamza said on Friday in Abuja.
Handing over the mantle of leadership to his successor, Mamza said that the bill, when signed into law, would enable the institute to regulate and assess the standard of polymer materials produced in the country.
“We sponsored the bill for the Chartered Polymer Institute of Nigeria which has passed first, second and third readings at the National Assembly, and the consolidated bill was passed in 2018 and forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent.”
“Once it is assented to, we will be in the flagship position for legislation on the production of polymer materials in Nigeria and we shall be engaged as resource persons.”
“We shall be responsible for enforcing standards and teaching, as well as research in tertiary institutions in Nigeria,” Mamza said.
According to him, the institute engages in policy decision making at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation; the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment and the Ministry of Environment.
The former polymer institute boss also said that they also engaged with some parastatals like the National Environmental Standards and Regulations, Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Standard Organisation of Nigeria, and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC).
“We have become prominent that anything that has to do with polymer, we are usually consulted just like it happened during the era of plastic rice.”
“We gave the government and the general public a lot of advice on how to detect plastic rice and it helped in curbing the menace. You know how people can go to any length to make money out of nothing.”
“Our role was not to conduct tests for the plastic rice, but to tell people that they can do it even in their homes and find out whether it is plastic rice or not,” he said.
He appealed to the president to sign the institute’s bill into law to ensure polymer products in the country met international standards.
Mamza, a lecturer at the Department of Polymer Science and Technology of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, listed polymer products to include plastics, foams, adhesives among others.
He noted that the institute and its stakeholders were working round the clock to ensure Mr President assented to the bill before the end of his tenure.
Prof. Emmanuel Osabohien, the newly inaugurated President of the institute, assured that the new National Executive Council (NEC) of the institute would continue from where the previous officers stopped.
“We will ensure that the status of the Chartered institute is achieved because our institute is a voice to reckon with in the country as far as the polymer is concerned.”
“Again, we are going to promote polymer science and technology in the country and also use it to develop the nation,” Osabohien said.
It would be recalled that the outgoing President, Prof. Mamza was instrumental to the major achievements recorded by the institute, among which was the creation of more vibrant chapters and districts of the institute.
Similarly, he was instrumental in securing most of its partnership deals with some government and private establishments, in addition to securing the institute’s first official vehicle.