The year was 2012; I was invited to deliver a lecture at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. I was asked by the University to choose the topic of my choice for the lecture, it was soon after the birth of one of my grandson and it was upon me in accordance of our culture to give the son a name and I had given the name ANIBUNDU meaning Land Is Life. This was due to the realisation of the wonders of nature; the air that we breathe, the food that we eat and the water that we drink. All of the above come from the land. All the inhabitants of our planet earth and I mean we, the human beings, and the flora and fauna make our first steps in the land. We build our homes in the land and when we die, we are taken back to the land to rest forever. 
As you all may know, there are many planets in the universe, Jupiter, the brother of planet earth, Mars, Moon e.t.c. We have been told by science that our earth is the only planet with life. Various explorations of the rest of the planets show they do not have water, oxygen, rivers and oceans, trees and plants; therefore no inhabitants or food. It comes to reason therefore that when the planet earth was created, the trees and shrubs, the rivers, the seas and the oceans were there before human beings because we needed the oxygen, the air and we needed the food to be able to survive.
In essence, the phrase ‘Land is Life’ has a deeper meaning because if truly land is life, the harmful things we do to our land directly affects our health. It’s no wonder that the mortality rate for men and women in Nigeria is one of the lowest in the world. It affects us all equally, the rich and the poor, the young and the old. If harmful toxins are leaking into our land, we are consuming crops that grow from that land. If our animals are eating food that has been directly affected by one form of pollution or another, we are consuming these animals and in the long run, we develop health problems that can eventually become fatal.
Here in Nigeria, we have a serious environmental problem and the fact is that majority of Nigerians are not aware of this situation. For instance, some years ago, I was invited to Abeokuta as a special guest for the ‘Going Green’ initiative flag off ceremony organized by the then wife of Ogun State Governor – Mrs Folorunsho Amosun. In my speech, I commended her and her husband for taking a very bold step of pushing the issue of environment to the front seat because in Nigeria, you do not win votes by engaging the environment especially if you have to go for a second term. When my speech was captured in some of our national newspapers, they left out the part that dwelt on the environment. It wouldn’t sell papers.
Over 45 percent of the community of the nation depend on the land for their livelihood particularly the farming community, even the rivers, the oceans, the marine lives all depend on the land, the bushes, the forest, the biodiversity and the ecosystem are all the wonders of nature and all of these rests on the land. There is a common saying in my language by the elders that goes thus “ndu ogonogo anidinma na ahudimma” which when translated into English means “The journey to a long life and good health will depend on how well we protect and manage our environment”. Our forefathers did not cut down trees without replacing them. They did not graze the fields with their domestic animals without shifting or alternating grazing patterns. They did not also farm the lands without a shifting cultivation culture. Some of the foods they ate and some of the fruits they used for making soap, oil, and paint were nurtured from generations to generations. Some of these trees lived for hundreds of years. As a result, they did not have floods and they did not have erosions. They did not have air pollution, their lands were filled with nutrients and we could easily consume the food germinated without the aid of fertilizer.
It is a very common practice in my community where 90 per cent of the population are farmers for the workers to take a long holiday every year between November which signals the end of harvest and February, the beginning of the farming season. During this holiday period, all the cultural festivals are celebrated- it is well known as the cultural new-year. Gifts are exchanged, sacrifices are made and people are happier and healthier because there is plenty of food and entertainment. From the part of the country where I come from, yam is the main stay and it takes 5 months between planting and harvesting. The planting starts with the first rain between end March and early April, then the harvest starts early September which ushers in the beginning of cultural festivals.
The last few years harvesting in September has become almost impossible because the rains don’t come early enough, when the rain comes, it is severe and sometimes unpredictable. This slows down the development of the crops, particularly the yam. The festival that starts after the harvest known all over the community as the new yam festival has now been put in jeopardy because you cannot have the new yam festival without the yam. It has become a puzzle for the community to decide on when to fix the yam festival. As I am known to many as an environmental activist, I used the opportunity to educate more people on climate issues, the effect of changing weather patterns, the causes and likely adaptation techniques. One of such adaptation action which I presented at the town hall meeting I organized was the possibility of changing the calendar for the festivals. This was resisted by many even when I tried to bring in the climate change phenomenon, their position was that you cannot use a few years of changes in climate to destabilise centuries of festivals; for that reason, I requested for a compromise which is being taken to the council of elder for consideration. The compromise is to have the new yam festival without the new yam or to move the festival from September-October to October-November. This is how much climate change also affects culture and tradition.