The Director- General of the Nigeria Conservative Foundation, NCF, Dr Joseph Onoja, has called on Nigerians to organize tree planting events during birthdays and anniversaries, rather than throw parties.
According to him, this will go a long way to reduce the effect of climate change around us.
Dr Onoja, who spoke at the maiden edition of the Abuja Garden Festival, where a board member of the foundation and senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Senator Ede Dafionone,
delivered the key note address, said tree planting is important because people need to know that we are not “apart from nature, we are part of nature”.
He said, “Rather than throwing parties during your anniversaries and birthdays, organise trees planting events, so that we will have trees around us that will be able to play the role we are supposed to play to create more resilience, especially, in the face of climate change.
“In the Coastal areas, we have erosions while in the North, we have desertification coming in, so, we need to have trees around us to be able to stop that from happening.”
Senator Dafionone, in his keynote address, said the Federal Capital Territory has taken some steps to revamp green areas in the city.
According to him, It is the right step in the right direction. “The existing trees should be protected. The initiative to plant trees in schools is a laudable initiative. The green areas must remain a green area. Resident associations, schools, faith based organisations should be encouraged on tree planting. Everyone deserves access to clean green space in the FCT.
“Planting a tree is a bold step to protect our future and Abuja should lead by example. The Abuja Garden Festival which started today will grow, into something massive and I want to encourage the organsers to keep it up and not relent”, the senator said.
The facilitators of the event,
Mrs. Eyamba Nzekwu, a Chartered Accountant and Mrs. Nana Gbolahan, said the need to protect the environment motivated them to organise the event.
On his part, Mrs Nzekwu said Abuja is still being developed as a city and there is a lot of construction going on and in the process, trees are being cut down without replacement.
She said, “The onus is on us as residents to improve our well-being by contributing to our environment to start planting trees. We are here today to encourage people to please, plant a tree so that we can reduce the direct contact with the Sun.
“If you have a tree, the tree has a lot of benefits. A tree provides shade from the elements. If you have trees around your house and there is severe windstorm, the trees act as a wind breaker to break those winds from getting into your premises to destroy your roofs or your property. Some trees are even medicinal. A lot of trees are being exported from Africa for their medicinal benefits. ”
Also, Mrs Gbolahan, said Abuja has been very hot and “then, you also have an extreme heat that is affecting our plants in the environment.”
She said, “We decided to focus on the environment and get more people on board and in getting people on board, you don’t just have to get gardeners, you need people that are affected by the climate which is everybody.
“This year, our focus is to plant more trees and we are starting this initiatives from schools in the FCT. If we plant more tree, the environment will be cooler, there would be more oxygen, healthier people and less heat. The whole idea is to get ourselves involved in what government is doing because we cannot leave everything to government. With this initiative, we are supporting the government and we expect that the government will support us too because we are doing this for everyone not just for us here alone.
“If we continue to cut down our trees, the effect will be erosion, desertification, excessive heat, even, some of our plants will die. Even, as human beings, how long can u stay outside under the sun.”