Students at school age need to be pragmatic and make active solution in the environment instead of having a lackadaisical way of approaching issues that has to do with the environment.
Simileoluwa Adewale, Facilitator with Centre for 21st Century Issues (C21st Issues), made this submission during the roll-out of the Environmental Bees Club at Nikland College, Akesan area of Lagos State.
He revealed that the main objective of the club is to train young and vibrant minds to take up the role of taking good care of their environment.
“We want them to be pragmatic and proactive and make active solution in the environment instead of having a lackadaisical way of approaching issues that has to do with the environment. We also want them to be ambassadors of green initiatives by going out there and enlighten other people about the best way to go about issues relating to the environment,” Adewale stated.
In her remarks, Vivian Emesowum, Executive Director, Grassroots People and Gender Development Centre (GRADE), stated that the essence of working with C21st Issues is because they share the same vision of ensuring our environment is well protected and safe for all humans.
“We are partnering with C21st Issues to establish Environmental Bees Club in private schools, we identified Nikland College as one of the schools because this environment is a rural area and there are lots of issues that we need to let the young ones know about so that they in turn can educate their communities.”
“This is our first outing together and our goal is to go out to at least 20 schools before the end of this year, so we still have 19 more schools to reach out to before 2024.”
In her address, Mrs. Adebimpe Kuponu, Assistant Director, Tree Planting and Maintenance Department of Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK), tutored the participants on the importance of planting trees around the environment, saying: “First of all, trees give us oxygen and take in the carbon-dioxide we breath out, through the process of photosynthesis. Burning of fossil fuel, and the use of generators contribute greatly to global warming and climate change, tree planting is the cheapest option to mitigate against climate change.
“Trees have benefits such as environmental benefit, beautification of the environment. Trees such as cashew have economic benefit as the crops can be exported for foreign exchange, some has health benefits also, trees such as Moringa have medicinal benefits.”
The LASPARK Assistant Director who also encouraged all participants to sell the idea of planting trees to their parents however cautioned against indiscriminate cutting down of trees without getting approval from the agency.
“There is also a law in Lagos State that mandates residents to obtain approval from LASPARK before any tree can be cut down. Even if the tree in question is posing any danger, there is need for residents to notify LASPARK to obtain approval,” she maintained.
In her keynote address, Ms. Oyenike Oyetunde was full of praises to the organisers of the event and partners.
“I’ve been longing for a wonderful programme like this for a very long time, I mean a programme where issues that affect the environment will be taken as upmost priority. I was excited when the Environmental Bees Club was discussed with me. I am also excited that we will be making great environmentalists out of these young lads because it is in my belief that this singular event will open their eyes to so many things especially on issues relating to the environment, and they are going to have positive influence in the lives of people around them.”
Highlights of the event was the tree planting exercise where Mrs. Doyinsola Odukomaiya of LASPARK took the participating students of Nikland College on the steps to take in order to plant trees successfully, while LASPARK provides seedlings of Hibiscus, Gandenia and Musseanda Flava for planting and beautification of the school’s environment.
By Ajibola Adeoye
