From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, yesterday, decried the poor budgetary allocation by the Nigerian government in promoting and sustaining the ecosystem.
He expressed his sadness at a sensitisation campaign to mark the World Earth Day in Benin City.
Bassey said successive governments over the years have paid little or no attention to the sustainability of our environment without knowing that our economy and survival depend on it.
“Government has not invested more in our environment.
“Government in Nigeria pays too little attention to our environment. The smallest budgetary allocation by the government has shown the careless attitude about what is going around them, that is what build the health of the people, what builds the economy.
“Economy depends on what we have in our natural environment”, he said.
The Executive Director of HOMEF added that the sustainability of the ecosystem is not only the responsibility of government but of all Nigerians through tree planting and avoiding things that will impact on the environment negatively.
“At our individual level, we can do things that will help to cool the planet, for example, plant a tree at least in your premises if you don’t have land, in your compound, plant a tree in a bucket, it still works very well.
“We should learn to buy more durable clothes. You don’t have to change the things you have every year. If your shirt is made of good material, you can use for many years”, he said.
While speaking on this year’s theme “Invest in our Planet”, he said without a healthy planet, humans cannot survive.
“It is very significant day in the sense that we have to continuously be conscious for the fact that our environment is very important for our health, it is important for our economy , it is important for our culture. Without a healthy planet, humans cannot survive. It affects all other creatures in the planet.
“The theme for this year is invest in our planet. Investing in our environment is actually a wake up call.
“It is has been extremely destructive the way we deal with our environment. Investing in our planet has implication of investing in our youth, investing in maintaining our ecosystem, investing in our natural system because when you invest in the future, you are invariably investing in today, you are investing in the preservation of life.
“Right now we are investing very little in our future because we are just busy transforming, consuming and destroying everything”, said..