9th June, 2014
As Lagos joins the rest of the world to mark the World Environment Day, Governor Babatunde Fashola has called for concerted effort to preserve the environment from rot for the future generation.
The governor, who spoke at the event marking the World Environment Day in Lagos, southwest Nigeria during the week, said the gathering was not to magnify the calamities inherent in the environment, but to secure the needed support of all global citizens in dealing with challenges of climate change.
The theme of this year’s celebration is Small Island Developing States and Climate Change and thousands of Lagosians gathered at the Blue Roof, Lagos Television Ground, Ikeja, Lagos to mark the day.
According to Fashola, the theme was apt to describe the Lagos experience because the state is a coastal one and shared remarkable similarities with some of the renown Small Island Developing States, SIDS, such as Trinidad and Tobago, Tonga, Samoa, among others.
He said the problems confronting the world might seem daunting, but surmountable and that in Lagos, the government had been very resilient in tackling the environmental challenges confronting her as a mega city.
“Over the past decades, in addressing climate change, we have institutionalized the tree planting campaign and have planted over five million trees so far. We have also accelerated landscaping and beautification of open spaces, held international summits on climate change and established climate change clubs in Lagos schools,” said Fashola, who was represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed.
“We will all do well if individuals and private sector actors collectively toe the line of the preservation of the environment. It is now the responsibility of the government and the governed, public and private sector actors to collectively combined efforts to stop the rot in the environment.
“Let us all put our heads together and come up with innovative measures to protect our environment and thus, the future of generations to come,” he said. Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said this year’s celebration focused on assessing the vulnerability of SIDS to environmental challenges, especially climate change, saying that in achieving this goal, special emphasis was to be dedicated to raising awareness about impact of climate change on SIDS and the entire world.
“It is sad to note that environmental challenges have for long been trivialized until the world began to witness unprecedented eco-catastrophies. The dire consequences arising from long neglect of the environment has therefore brought global leaders together in the quest for seeking panaceas necessary for averting further disasters,” he explained.
Bello enjoined Lagosians to embrace the state’s environmental renewal programme of the administration by desisting from acts like open defecation and urination, discharge of spent oil into drains and the burning of waste.
He added that industries in the state needed to refrain from releasing Greenhouse Gases into the environment in order to attain environmental sustainability in the state.