By Chukwudi Nweje
Lagos State Government yesterday stated that it is committed to sustaining the campaign against climate change.
Commissioner for Information in the state, Gbenga Omotosho made the pledge at a climate change art exhibition organised by ‘Our Tomorrow Foundation,’ on Thursday.
He said that the state government through its relevant agencies are leading the battle against pollution and cutting down of trees in the state.
He said, “The whole essence of climate change campaign shows that it is real that even school children understand what we are talking about and how endangered our world is.
“It shows us that the legacy we can leave for our children and generations unborn is to educate them on the dangers of climate change.
“The arts are beautiful, natural and very attractive to all of us, climate change is real, and we must do something about it. This exhibition coming from the young people shows that kind of creativity we have in our young people in Nigeria.
“It also shows that all of us need to come together to encourage them because they really have talent. It is not just having talent but using art as a vehicle to express our concern about climate change which the entire world is talking about. “
He said the dangers posed by climate change are real, and that everyone, the old and the young must join hands to address it.
He further said, “All of us have now seen that it is something we need to unite and work together to fight it. Lagos State Government is doing a lot in terms of monitoring the environment and we have an agency that goes around to monitor smoke emissions, noise pollution and so many other things about our environment.
“The government is doing well by supporting its agencies who are leading the battle against pollution and cutting down trees anyhow. It is for all of us to fight climate change and these kids have shown that it is indeed a battle we can fight with art, creativity and talent.”
Also speaking, Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Gaji Mobolaji Tajudeen, said information technology and social media helped in exposing children to the dangers of climate change.
He said the art works are the students’ own expressions of how they understand climate change.
“These students have used their art works to illustrate the dangers of climate change on the environment,” he said.
Earlier, founder, Our Tomorrow Foundation, Prince Emeka Obasi Junior, said the purpose of the art exhibition for students in the state is to create awareness on the dangers of climate change among the younger people.
He said, “The idea is to allow the students to express their views on climate change and environmental degradation through art and create more awareness about this issue.
“If governments do not tackle and solve the problem of climate change, it is going to significantly affect our quality of living. We are going to see more floods and so many natural disasters worsening across the world. Governments need to step up across the world to tackle this.
“It is unfortunate that a lot of people do not understand the dangerous effect of climate change going forward and we are trying to raise awareness about it especially among the young people.
“Students from both public and private participated in the art exhibition, and the idea is to raise awareness among the young people.”
On plans of the foundation going forward, Obasi said “What we are going to do going forward is to establish clubs and societies in different schools to educate young people about climate change so that we will have mass movement about tackling climate change.”