24th March, 2024
By Henry Oladele
Chief Philip Asiodu, the President of the Board of Trustees, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), has called for pragmatic approaches to check the predicted sea rise in Lagos that can affect many people in the coastal areas.
Asiodu made the call while giving remarks at his 90th birthday celebration organised by the NCF on Saturday in Lagos.
He said he was worried about the sea rise and appealed to the government to arrest the situation.
“Lagos as you know is not very large in terms of land space and we have a lot of conservation challenges in Lagos and with the global warming and all.
“Lagos is endangered if the sea should rise as it is predicted and if we don’t do much to arrest the situation, about two million human beings will have to relocate.
“We pray that enough is done but certain urgent things will have to be done in Lagos,” he said.
He expressed fear that if nothing drastic “is done to check the sea rise, Lekki might be under the sea in the next 10 years”
He noted that many beaches had gone under the sea due to coastal erosion and poor management of environmental issues, calling for a more workable friendly policy on environmental matters.
He also appealed to the federal and state governments to cooperate with the government to develop the country.
“I still believe there is hope and we can return to a very good system.
“We will soon discover that there is no section of this country that does not have enough intelligent men and women capable of transforming the country.
“So, let us pray that the country will survive and we will do things right nationally and globally,” he said.
Earlier, in a tribute, the National Executive Council Chairman, Justice Bukola Adebiyi, said that Asiodu had always been working towards achieving the NCF’s vision of a Nigeria where people could prosper and live in harmony.
Chief Asiodu is a Nigerian Diplomat, Bureaucrat and former Federal Minister of Petroleum. He was also a Special Adviser to President Sheu Shagari on Economic Affairs and Chief Economic Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo.