Health
NPAP inaugurates plastics financing task force to tackle pollution
Janet Ogundepo
The Nigeria National Plastic Action Partnership has inaugurated a Plastics Financing Taskforce to mobilise investment and accelerate solutions to plastic pollution as the National Plastic Summit 2026 opened in Abuja on Thursday.
The summit, themed “Innovation, Inclusion and Investment for a Circular Plastics Economy in Africa,” brought together government officials, industry leaders, development partners, innovators, financiers, and civil society actors to advance sustainable approaches to plastics management and industrial transformation.
Convened by the Nigeria National Plastic Action Partnership and hosted by the Policy Innovation Centre, the summit also unveiled plans for a Nigeria Plastic Action Financing Roadmap aimed at addressing financing gaps across the plastics value chain.
The newly inaugurated task force comprises representatives from development finance institutions, commercial banks, government agencies, industry, and civil society organisations.
The group is expected to develop strategies for mobilising investment across the plastics value chain and support efforts to transition Nigeria towards a circular plastics economy.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Centre, Dr Osasuyi Dirisu, stressed the importance of investment in advancing plastic circularity.
Dirisu noted that the initiative would also prioritise inclusion of informal sector players who play a significant role in waste management and recycling.
“We are not pursuing investment for the purpose of investing without returns; we are building the conditions for investment that deliver measurable returns for people, industry, and the environment.
“We want to carry an entire sector; the informal sector, aggregators, waste pickers together, and really create livelihoods and opportunities to improve socio-economic development in Nigeria,” she said.
The financing roadmap, currently being developed by the Nigeria National Plastic Action Partnership through the Policy Innovation Centre, is expected to identify priority investment opportunities, map existing financing gaps, and propose practical financing instruments for implementation.
Also speaking, the Head of the Global Plastic Action Partnership at the World Economic Forum, Clémence Schmid, described Nigeria as a critical player in shaping the future of plastics circularity on the continent.
“The choices Nigeria makes today will influence regional markets, investment flows, and the future of Africa’s circular economy,” Schmid said.
Schmid added that the next phase of Nigeria’s plastics transition would focus on implementation, translating the roadmap into policy, investment, infrastructure, business action, and measurable outcomes.
Representatives of the Federal Ministry of Environment, the United Nations Development Programme, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Dow Chemical and the UK High Commission also called for stronger alignment of policy, financing and innovation to unlock opportunities across the plastics value chain.
They emphasised the need to ensure that informal workers, recyclers and small businesses are not excluded from the transition to a circular economy.
The NPAP further noted that the summit focused on advancing circularity as an economic opportunity, strengthening policy implementation systems and promoting inclusion in the transition towards a sustainable green economy.
The Nigerian National Plastic Action Partnership is a multi-stakeholder platform committed to advancing sustainable and systemic solutions to plastic pollution in Nigeria, while the Global Plastic Action Partnership, established by the World Economic Forum, works with governments, businesses and civil society organisations to accelerate country-led solutions to plastic waste challenges.
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