– Environmental Analyst Revivals
An environmental analyst and lab manager at the Liberian Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) has predicted a serious catastrophic landslide in the not-too-distant future in Liberia if the government of Liberia fails to take the necessary steps to control plastic waste management and mining of the Jallah Town Hill on the Capitol Bypass.
Mr. Sam P. Jallah, a math and chemistry lecturer at African Methodist Episcopal University (ANEU) and United Methodist University (UMU), predicted that if nothing is done by the government to address the rapid urban migration and construction of houses in the Jallah Town area, the country will experience a huge loss.
Speaking in an interview with a team of journalists over the week at the G. W. Gibson School Campus in Central Monrovia, he warned that Liberia will, in a no-distance period, repeat the mistake of neighboring Sierra Leone, which had an ugly and catastrophic landslide that led to the deaths of many.I was part of the team that did the research during the Sierra Leone landslide. During our research, we discovered that the landslide happened as a result of plastic and the undermining of the area for the construction of human habitation. And that is what we are now seeing in Jallah Town.
The way that Jallah Town is looking and the fact that people are just mining it because they want to build will cause a major landslide in a short period of time. ”One day, we’ll wake up to find that the entire population of that area has been buried by a landslide,” Mr. Jallah warned.He also predicted that if the government does not implement regulations against plastic waste management and disposal, Liberia will have limited or no crop growth and production in some areas with high levels of plastic waste in fifty years.
The analytical chemist disclosed that plastic waste takes one million years to get rotten, something he claimed that only a limited portion of Liberians are aware of.”Only a small percentage of the population is aware that plastic waste takes one million years to decompose.”The wrongful disposal of plastic waste is a serious threat to our crops’ growth and production. When you walk on the street and in the community, you see plastic and other recyclable waste. However, after some time, you don’t see them when rain falls or when people wrongfully dispose of them. Meanwhile, those plastic wastes are buried beneath the soil and covered with a thin layer of sand. “And so fifty years from now, if the government doesn’t put things in order, Liberia will plan crops and they will not grow,” he indicated.
The environmentalist is alarmed that the farmer will soon complain of crop growth because the plant needs setting nutrients to produce fruit; therefore, if the plant doesn’t have those nutrients because of the plastic beneath the soil, it will grow but not produce fruit. Meanwhile, speaking about the country’s oil and gasoline sector, the analytical chemist stated that politics should not be brought into science. He lamented that until Liberia and African governments can respect and prioritize their local scientists, Africa and Liberia will never be developed.
“Development doesn’t start with a politician in the white man’s home; rather, it starts with the technician.” The technician builds the platform and gives it to the politician to present to the people. Our country should make sure that what is for scientists is given, and what is for technical people should also be given.
“The technician should hold the technical area,” he noted.The prospective Bomi County district #3 representative also stated that he has too many recommendations for Liberians in the oil and gas sector because we have not touched them.He averred that when Liberia begins its explosion of gasoline and oil, many Liberians will not work because we don’t have the technicians and technical manpower to drive the sector; therefore, 95% of the employees will be foreigners, something he said will not balance the economy.It is possible that we go to the various universities and recruit there, where the LPRC will offer quality analysis and hydrocarbon. Once you know organic chemistry, you can do that.
Liberians are studying organic chemistry at various universities. So they can teach those in the classroom, and when it comes time for the practical, you can bring them to the LPRC lab, where we will train them.Liberians will control the gas sector when it is ready to explode,” he warned.He warned that Liberians should stop politicizing everything and give the space to technicians to do their job, urging that scientists should be respected and that what is not for politics should not be given to politicians.He said the systematic interference with the scientists’ work is killing the country and urged that scientists be given the space to independently do their work.”Liberia has not reached the level of being highly scientific; therefore, the country is struggling with too many lapses in development and many other sectors.
” Without science in Liberia, plenty of things will not happen.I am currently working at the LPRC’s laboratory manager’s desk.In my Terms of Reference (TOR), I am supposed to chemically and physically analyze all hydrocarbon products coming into the country. The flaws, however, are in the quality management system (QMS),” he noted.
