Protecting the environment to save ourselves

 

On August 4, 2021, on my programme, Development Focus with Jide Ojo on ITV, Abuja, I was privileged to host an environmentalist, Mr. Olusola Babalola, the Executive Director of Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Development Awareness. He was on the programme to discuss the topic: “Managing environmental hazards in Nigeria”. During the interactive session, we touched on a wide-range of environmental issues from desertification to flooding, wildfires, environmental pollutions, health hazards and how best to tackle climate change. It was quite insightful!

Incidentally, last week Monday, precisely on August 9, 2021, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Sixth Assessment Report in Geneva, Switzerland. That report was very revealing. The IPCC report said inter alia that, “Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion — such as continued sea level rise — are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years.

The report projects that in the coming decades, climate changes will increase in all regions. For 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would more often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health. Coastal areas will see continued sea level rise throughout the 21st century, contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas and coastal erosion. Extreme sea level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century. These are frightening revelations!

According to the IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Panmao Zhai, “Stabilising the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching net zero CO2 emissions. Limiting other greenhouse gases and air pollutants, especially methane, could have benefits both for health and the climate”

In fairness to the Nigerian government, as part of the global community fighting climate change, the country now has a Federal Ministry of Environment as well as several agencies helping to deal with environmental issues. These include the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Meteorological Agency, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, Environmental Protection Boards, Waste Management Boards, Ministry of Agriculture as well as Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. There are several River Basin Development Commissions as well as policy initiatives such as the Great Green Wall meant to curb desertification as well as the WASH campaign.

However, despite these numerous Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Nigerians’ attitude to the environment leaves much to be desired. We care less about the ecosystem, we despoil it and degrade it. For instance, despite the Great Green Wall initiative, desertification in Northern Nigeria remains a clear and present danger. This is partly the reason why cattle herders have to move their cattle from the Northern part of the country to the Southern part in search of greener pastures as the pastures in the north have been overgrazed and insufficient for the herds of cattle that feed on them. In the course of looking for the pastures, some of the herders end up grazing on crops of farmers, hence the descent to the now intractable and perennial clashes between the pastoralists and the farmers.

In spite of many deadlines for the cessation of gas flaring in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, gas is still being flared for the past 65 years since oil exploration started in Nigeria. This gas emission and flaring are partly responsible for the ozone layer depletion and global warming hence necessitating the much talked about climate change. Meanwhile, it is the same gas international oil companies have been flaring for decades that we are supposed to use to power our electricity thermal stations and also for industrial and domestic uses. Today, despite all the public sensitisation for Nigerians to embrace the use of clean energy for cooking, cooking gas prices have become astronomical hence many women, especially in sub-urban and rural areas have fallen back to using firewood and charcoal. Of course, these two cooking agents are sourced by the cutting down of trees which helps to protect the environment by emitting oxygen and taking in carbon dioxide.

Despite the existence of the environmental protection boards and waste management boards in all states of Nigeria, residents still indulge in littering of their environment and indiscriminate dumping of refuse. In many communities, residents still dump refuse in water channels and drainage, especially during this rainy season. There is also indiscriminate bush burning which has led to wildfires in many places.   It is also not uncommon to see people building on water plains and under electricity high tension wires. When disasters such as flooding and electrocution strike, we start to blame some spiritual forces when we are the cause of our own misfortunes.

Not many Nigerians see the nexus between environmental negligence and health hazards. They do not know that the overgrown weeds around them and their unkempt environment provide a fertile breeding ground for different types of mosquitoes be it anopheles or any other. Little wonder we have not succeeded in rolling back malaria and typhoid fever despite investment of billions of naira in campaigns and provisioning of mosquito-treated nets. Many of my compatriots also fail signally to see the nexus between their disdain for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and the perennial outbreak of cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea. As of last week, a total number of 816 people were documented by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to have died of cholera in Nigeria between January and first week of August 2021.  These are avoidable and preventable deaths!

It is very doubtful if all manufacturing companies in Nigeria submitted a valid environmental impact assessment reports before relevant authorities licensed them to begin operations. This is because of the amount of environmental degradations many of these manufacturing companies have caused to their host communities.  Many of the industrial wastes are not being properly disposed. The effluent from many companies is just channeled into open drainage and rivers thereby causing environmental pollution.

It is gladdening that the Ejama-Ebubu community in Tai Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State took the Shell Petroleum Development Company to court over the despoliation of their environment. Though the case lasted over three decades, the Ogoni community last week won eventually as the SPDC has agreed to pay the N45.9 billion that the court awarded against the Dutch oil exploration giant.

At the international level, the devastating flooding experienced in Germany and Belgium a couple of months ago was as a result of climate change. The same is responsible for the flooding experienced across many states in Nigeria.  If we don’t want to perish as a fool, we need to treat the environment with greater care and tenderness. There is a need for reforestation in which case tree planting should be accorded great priority across Nigeria. Environmental sanitation should be taken seriously beyond the two hours’ observation accorded it every last Saturday of the month in some states. It should be a daily routine. There is a need to embrace Water, Sanitation and Hygiene by stopping the age-long practice of open defecation while practising regular hand-washing. Environmental degradation by oil and solid mineral exploration companies should also stop forthwith. It is also high time we embraced recycling of solid wastes in order to create wealth. Lastly, all environmental regulatory agencies should be alive to their responsibilities.