Lagos Turns To School Teachers To Battle Climate Change
The Event Place, opposite New Afrika Shrine, Ikeja, Lagos, South West Nigeria, was filled to capacity with principals and teachers of public secondary schools in the state, with the aim joining government in its quest to mitigate the impact of climate change.
The Lagos State Ministry of the Environment had organised a one-day sectoral summit on climate change with theme, Climate Change Challenges: The Relevance of the Education Sector, for the principals and teachers, who were brought into the fore so that they could catch the vision of the fight against climate change and impact it on their students, who are the leaders of tomorrow.
“This is part of our attempt to catch our future leaders young and ingrain in them the causes and effects of climate change and their role towards a sustainable environment. It is also to remind us about the importance of not only fighting climate change, but the essence of involving school children whose future is being threatened by the effects of global warming,†said Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Muiz Banire. The commissioner said since the establishment of climate change clubs in public schools, the level of awareness and the general perception of climate change in Lagos State schools had increased tremendously.
“This has renewed our hope for a healthier and sustainable environment, devoid of avoidable negative consequences. It is in this light that the state government has lined up a number of activities aimed at sustaining the achievements and taking our advocacy programme to the next level,†he added.
According to Banire, “we owe our future generations the responsibility to protect the world from dire consequences of climate change by playing our roles effectively. As tutors and guardians, I charge you to ensure that waste sorting and recycling competition, tree planting and nurturing competition tagged Me and My Tree, debate and quiz competitions, both at intra and inter school levels, form an integral part of sustaining the climate change clubs.â€
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs. Omolara Erogbogbo, said the threat posed by global warming was real and urged the principals and teachers to join in the fight against climate change.
She stated that greenhouse gases had greatly damaged the environment, adding that it was now difficult to detect whether it is rainy or dry season as rain could fall any time unlike in the past. According to her, there was the need to find pragmatic solution to mitigate the impact of climate change and create awareness about its danger.
Delivering a lecture on the Overview of the Causes and Impact of Climate Chnge, Professor Babajide Alo of the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, stated that as useful as greenhouse gases were, they could be dangerous to the environment if they were not available in the right amount that the earth needed.
“Global warming can be described as the greatest threat facing humanity. The weather has been funny, seasons have been shifting fairly unpredictable, while ocean level are rising and breaking their boundaries, causing landslides and massive flooding.
“It is important that our country and Lagos State in particular, take issues related to vulnerabilities and the negative effects of climate change seriously. Mitigative, adaptive or reversal strategies can only be established and made to work by government.
“Designing local responses that simultaneously address the issues of climate change and sustainability is a challenging task. Working towards resilient and sustainable communities in a developing country like Nigeria will require promoting climate change responses within sustainable development strategies and actions,†he stated.
Comments