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By: Manoah Kikekon
Ashade Abdulsalam Abiodun, the executive director Green Janitors Sustainable Initiative, commemorates World Environment Day, calls for an end to the indiscriminate dredging of Badagry waterways.
The world environment day was commemorated on Saturday, with the theme: Our land, our future, held in Badagry, Lagos State.
At the event, Ashade said, this is to send a signal of advocacy and to change people's mindsets towards the waste they generate.
"Lagos State is on higher level, and recently we have witnessed climate change actions, which include flooding. Badagry, being an indigenous community, needs to be aware of the danger it will cause if we don't take cognizance of protecting the environment,
"We are using the medium to send a red alert, particularly when it comes to the indiscriminate dredging that we are having on our shoreline. Some people coming to our land pay some community head and start dredging the waterways, which is going to have adverse effects on our community," he said.
Various youth groups within and outside Badagry community, people from all areas of life, were present, where they were engaged and sensitised towards taking charge in protecting lands for 2024 World Environment Day, which is land restoration, drought resilience.
"Communities now sell land without taking cognizance of what we call wet land. These are lands that are not supposed to be sold; they have to be reserved as they have a lot to do with preserving our health. It is part of the biodiversity that we need to live.
"My message to the government is that they need to do an adequate environmental impact assessment. Sometimes, oversight can happen. We may have some loopholes in the government system. Maybe the person asked to come and do a baseline survey at the place the dredging will take place may not even come, may just send a representative. I think the government needs to have another monitoring department from these same departments where they can go and check if the dredgging is having an impact on the community. When I say people, I'm not talking about the community head, because it may happen that the community head is just using it for his business," he added.
Titi Oshodi, special adviser to the Lagos State Governor on climate change and circular economy, said Badagry, as a coastal city, beholds opportunities in the area of urbanisation. "There are a lot of infrastructure projects coming into Badagry through the government's development plans."
She commended the efforts of green janitor for being responsive to the impact of climate change, and we have to be responsible in our waste management as well.
"Even if we say we are relocating, there are climate change challenges in every community. The only thing is that because this place is coastal, we have issues of flooding. There is a need to educate the communities about responsible behaviour that is climate-friendly. First and foremost, how do we dispose of waste? We know that one of the major components of flooding is our drainage, which is being blocked by our waste," she said.
Oshodi futher said, "We need to sensitise the people first. The plan of the office of special adviser to the governor on climate change is to push out a sensitization program right now, by driving through the already existing infrastructures. Providing points for people out of waste management techniques so that people can use them to their benefit or pay for some amenities. We will establish competent skill training opportunities for people to see that when they harvest their waste, there are better uses to it, and it can be converted into useful items."