PRESERVING NIGERIA'S ENVIRONMENT

    One important definition of the Environment according to the online dictionary known as Wikitionary is "The natural World or the Ecosystem". It is both thought provoking and saddening that the "wisest" of all living beings is the biggest destroyer of the environment shared by all.
                   
      Myopically, we keep sacrificing the environment for our comfort and ostentation; From massive deforestation to loading the atmosphere with Carbon monoxide, the self styled Homo 'Sapiens' have put all inhabitants of the Earth to a scary countdown to doomsday! The beautiful Great Barrier Reef was declared dead as a result of the famed Global Warming, the Ozone layer is getting depleted from our gases, Fukushima polluted a whole ocean, and as if those are not scary enough, the progressive melting of the Siberian permafrost can possibly expose us to the possibility of reviving some hibernating disasters as shown in the BBC Earth's article of May 4, 2017 titled "There are diseases hidden in ice, and they are waking up".

     The biggest environmental issues in Nigeria to the North is desert encroachment, and to the south, flooding and oil spills lead the pack. To counter the scorching march of the Sahara, it was agreed by the African Union to build the 4 Billion dollars "Great Green Wall of The Sahara", this initiative has up to 21 countries, including Nigeria, participating. More commitment to this project will halt the advance of the World's biggest desert into Northern Nigeria, this same project is expected to have a positive effect on the life giving Lake Chad too.
    To the South, flooding is largely self inflicted, hemming from improper siting of buildings and the culture of dumping refuse in the waterways and water bodies, these block waterways during rainfalls and swell rivers far beyond their banks. The flooding in southern Nigeria can be combated with government's political will, through centrally (preferably government private partnership) established bodies which receives a compulsory annual fee for proper waste disposal from the citizenry.        
       The byproduct of this central waste disposal can be used to solve one of Nigeria's greatest undying problems, which is stable electricity as has been done in Sweden which is now considering importation of refuse from neighboring countries for electricity generation! Government, Activists, and Human rights groups must work together to force the giant oil companies to clean up their spills promptly and the country must force the foreign oil companies to reduce spills as much as possible.

    Humanity is the biggest culprit in the degradation of the environment worldwide and Nigeria is not an exception, we humans will be very instrumental in reversing the ticking time bomb too. It is quite applaudable that there is much awareness globally on salvaging the environment, but there is still much to be done in Nigeria. The electorate everywhere must consider candidates' knowledge of and willingness to care for the environment in making electoral choices. The Paris Agreement must be religiously followed by Nigeria and other signatories, and naysayers should have a rethink. Big companies like Total are also making bold entries into the clean and renewable energy business.

    All these show that what is left is better sensitization of the people on the long term environmental effects of their everyday activities, and the results of past activities which are haunting us presently, availability of information which will inform them to make better electoral decisions to place environment friendly people in positions of power.




Mistura Ogundairo.