By Henry Uche, Lagos
Still worried by the level of human insensitive and reckless actions and inactions towards the environment, a frontline Civil Society Organization, Human & Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) is calling for climate Justice for Nigeria and Africa at large.
In preparation for the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as COP27, which will be the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference, to be held from 6 to 18 November 2022, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, HEDA took the streets of Lagos over the weekend to create awareness on the need for Africa to stand out ( regarding the climate change) in the conference.
The roadshow which took place in Maryland, Ikeja and other strategic locations of Lagos saw some concerned young men and women in branded T. shirts and placards and other forms of display designed to draw public attention towards the unfortunate environmental realities which citizens themselves have advertently created.
With different inscriptions like: “What’s going on here?”, “The world is changing “We are killing the ecosystem”, “Trees are the lungs of the earth, let the earth breath, plant a tree today”, “Climate change is natural”, “Climate change is man-made”, “The climate is changing because you and I refuse to change”, “We pollute the environment”, “We block drainages”, “We demand climate Justice,” etcetera, the environmental justice and sustainability advocate (HEDA) called for caution and restrain in the way and manner people relates with the environment and its inhabitants including plants, animals, water and other creatures.
Speaking shortly after, the Executive Secretary of HEDA, Mr Arigbabu Sulaimon, said the world is changing but not in the best interest of mankind- due to human (individuals and corporate organiwations) unfriendly activities towards the environment, urging Nigerians and Africans at large to shun any practice capable of destroying the environment.
According to him, what Africa deserves among other salient needs is climate Justice: “Africa is in drought. Animals are dying. People are suffering. Farm produce is shrinking. Most parts of Nigeria including the food basket of Nigeria is overflooded due to the failure of water and dams management system,”
HEDA’s scribe decried the level of Nigerians’ reactive response towards ugly incidents which were oftentimes predicted by NiMet and other organisations earlier, saying, “When the alarm is raised over an impending doom, like NiMet did since February on the flood which has destroyed lives, property and farm produce worth billions, we need to be proactive and take frantic actions to prepare for such days like this.
“Howbeit, on the side of the government, it’s not enough to raise the alarm, we need action, people especially farmers need to be mentally equipped with professional advice, for instance, they (farmers) need to know the kind/ varieties of seeds to plant and how to go about it the farming system for that particular season,”
By extension, he added that Africa needs money to adapt to climate change and meet up to its obligations in the international community. Howbeit, proper management of available resources like ecological funds and other foreign aids must be prudently utilised and deployed maximally.
“We understand that corruption is still eating deep into the fabrics of most African countries, that is why everyone must rise now and do something worth doing to mitigate the effects of climate change. As you may see, we are all affected by the calamity the floods have caused, because we all interdependent on one another for one exchange for the other, like food, and roads network among others.
“Olams and other large farmers lost investments worth billions in Nassawara state. Across every state, you see people affected by one act of natural phenomena or the other which has always been there, but the sad thing is that we keep falling victim of their recurrence because of failure to plan by the government across the board.
“All hands must be on deck to preserve the environment, especially the government which gives policy direction and controls the financial resources. As friends of the environment, we are not leaving any stone unturned to see that we let people be aware of the dangers of treating the environment indiscreetly. Civil society organisations also should rise now and act in this regard before things get out of control,” he charged.