Environment
By Ibukun Emiola
Ibadan, June 5, 2024 (NAN) A Non-Profit Organisation, Eleven Eleven Twelve Foundation (EETF), has decried the effects of human pollution and land degradation on the environment across Nigeria.
EETF Founder, Mr Adetunji Lam-Adesina, cried out at a symposium to commemorate the 2024 World Environmental Day in Ibadan on Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the organisation used the forum to sensitise students on the effects of pollution and land degradation on the environment, emphasising urgent actions to reverse the trend.
According to Lam-Adesina, the current situation indicates that the world is in distress due to continuous harmful practices by humans.
“Hence, the need to sensitise young people to inculcate good habits that would protect the earth.
“It takes all of us to get the environment back to what it should be. Our planet needs help and it takes all of our efforts and actions to get it back.
“Today, we decide to focus on the youth, as we need their efforts now more than ever because the future belongs to them.
“And we need to carry them along so that we can catch them young and instil the culture of giving back to the environment in them,” he said.
Earlier, a professor of Agricultural Engineering, Emilolorun Aiyelari, underscored the need to harness the weather and the nation’s abundant natural resources to reverse desertification and drought.
According to him, the government should step up tree planting and treat the soil well to address food insecurity and climate change.
“We have all it takes to grow crops in Nigeria; good weather and water bodies that can be tapped for irrigation.
“If we do this in the North, cattle herders will not migrate to the South.
“This will address some of the insecurity issues in the country, as farmers will once again have the confidence to farm,” he said.
Prof. Grace Oloukoi of the Department of Urban and Environmental Management, Lead City University, Ibadan, said land degradation has a way of impacting every aspect of the environment.
She emphasised the need to protect nature and restore the damage done to the land.
“For us to live well, go green and embrace planting trees; we are already restoring and enriching the earth by so doing.
“We must stop plastic pollution and other habits that have adverse effects on the earth,” Oloukoi said.
On what the education sector could do to promote sustainability, Mrs Helen Ojehomon, Deputy Head of School, Ibadan International School, said environmental management should be inculcated into the school curriculum.
According to her, environmental awareness or knowledge is not a subject that should be taken on its own but something to be integrated into all of the subjects.
“So, while treating economics, we should be talking about environmental impact as well; the same thing for agriculture and other subjects.
“This is necessary so that students can understand that no man is an island, and nothing is completely separate, but they are all interconnected and the environment is what joins all of these together,” Ojehomon said.
Two students of the participating schools, Oluwalonimi Jenrola of American Christian Academy, and Precious Adejumo of Ibadan International School, thanked the organisers for the knowledge gained.
Both students said they would henceforth become advocates for the promotion of good environmental habits among their peers.
NAN reports that the 2024 World Environment Day is themed, “Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience” with the slogan, “Our land, Our future’. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
IBK/KOO/MAS
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Edited by Kevin Okunzuwa and Moses Solanke
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