Speeches

Official Launch Of The Climate Change Club (CCC) In Lagos State Public Schools Under The School Advocacy Programme

Mar 20, 2008 - I do not know how many of us ever reflect on why the phrase “Eko For Show” attained national prominence long before independence in 1960 and still remains etched in public consciousness even now. The phrase reflected the fact that Lagos was associated with glamour, beauty, urbaneness, style, poise, fashion; all the ingredients that define modernization. I recall that as a young boy growing up in Lagos and later a student in this city, Lagos was largely clean, serene and aesthetically edifying. As young students we cared so much about our appearance. We were not only fashion-conscious; we always strove to appear neat. Our uniforms were always clean, our shoes and sandals polished, our finger nails cut and clean and our hair cut. Just as we cared about our personal appearance, we jealously kept and protected the environment of our schools. There was a healthy rivalry among schools then and we knew that the image of our school depended significantly on our personal neatness and that of our school.

It is unfortunate that as the population of Lagos increased geometrically over the years the development of the state was not properly, planned, coordinated and controlled. There was insufficient investment in the expansion of existing infrastructure and the provision of new ones to cope with the population surge. The consequence was that the State degenerated into abysmal planlessness bordering on sheer chaos. Eko became more known for traffic anarchy, mountains of waste and infrastructure decay than for the proverbial show. The culture of competitive cleanliness that once characterized our school system naturally became a casualty of that unfortunate situation.

Over the last eight years, appreciable strides were taken towards renewing and expanding our infrastructure as well as achieving more efficient waste management and environmental cleanliness. Our Administration is building on the foundation laid by aggressively beautifying and greening the environment as well as strictly enforcing the state’s environmental and physical planning laws. Today’s official launch of the Climate Change Club (CCC) in Lagos State public schools marks another milestone in our journey towards a cleaner, healthier, sustainable and disciplined society. This is a major component of the School Environmental Advocacy Programme of the Ministry of Environment which includes School Beautification, School Waste Management and School Hygiene and Sanitation.

A recent comprehensive survey undertaken by the Ministry of the Environment revealed among other findings the poor and unhygienic state of our schools surroundings including school toilets. This poor state of the school environment can be attributed to lack of value for cleanliness, personal hygiene and the beautification culture amongst pupils and staff of most schools. The assessment also revealed a low level of awareness on environmental issues.

The “School Advocacy Programme” has been conceptualized and initiated by this Administration to remedy this unacceptable situation. The thrust of this programme is to re-orientate our teeming youths and inculcate them with sanitary and greening habits to enable them serve as agents of change in the larger society. Our ultimate objective is to utilize the School Advocacy Program as an effective vehicle for reversing the present unsanitary habits of the citizenry by correcting those unhealthy behaviors and practices that contribute to global warming and dangerous climate change. This is in consonance with our Administration’s 10-point Development Agenda, which emphasizes the need to provide Lagos with a clean and healthy environment in a bid to restore her glory and make her the pride of Africa as a global Mega-city.

The formation of the Climate Change Club in our public schools is a major step we are taking to stimulate greater public interest in and awareness of climate issues. We are aware that there are divergent perspectives about the reality of climate change and its implications. One school of thought believes that the climate is constant and cannot change while another affirms the reality of the phenomenon as demonstrated by the scientific, environmental and meteorological indexes now facing the globe. Our position in Lagos State is that climate change is real and has to be confronted headlong. If we must deliver on our promise of environmental sustainability, we must take the indices of climate change and global warming seriously.

The climate is defined not simply as average temperature and precipitation but also by the type, frequency and intensity of weather events. Climate change is the variation in the earth’s global climate. It involves changes in variability or average state of the atmosphere over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by dynamic processes on earth, external forces including variation in sunlight intensity and most recently by human activities.

Climate change is one of the most complex, multifaceted and serious threats the world faces today. The response to this threat is linked to pressing concerns for sustainable development, global fairness, vulnerability and resilience of the economy and poverty reduction in the world that we are handing over to our children. It is certainly beyond dispute that as a result of human based activities, the climate is changing. It is becoming less stable, more volatile and warmer. Global average surface temperatures have increased by 0.74ºCelsius since the industrial revolution of the last 200 years. Seasons are arriving at different times as normal variations are increasing, glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising. It is observed that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe; drought, floods and heat waves are already contributing to crop failures. As the planet warms, the predicted threats are on the increase at an alarming rate.

Carbon dioxide and various other gases known as “green house gases” wrap the earth in an invisible blanket helping to prevent heat from escaping. Without this greenhouse effect, the average temperature on earth would be around – 18°C compared with the current average temperature of around + 15°C. This blanket of gases has remained constant for many thousands of years. However, since the industrial revolution began about 200 years ago, people have been burning more fossil fuels such as wood, coal and gas and thereby releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Massive de-forestation in South East Asia has interfered with nature’s work and the global impact is generating serious discussions about whether these economic acts are not more devastating than vehicular emissions.

In just 200 years, the amount of carbondixode in the atmosphere, which is the major green house gas that causes climate change, has increased by 30%. It has also been predicted that global temperatures are expected to rise between 1.4°C and 5.8°C over the next century.

Some human activities that contribute to the Greenhouse effect include operation of vehicles, motorcycles and power generating plants; burning of fossil such as coal and gas by vehicles, motorcycles and generating sets as well as deforestation; livestock and paddy rice farming; Cement production; Use of chlorofloro-carbons (CFCS) in refrigerating systems; Use of halons in fire suppressing systems and manufacturing processes and flaring of gases

Impact of climate change
Climate change is an inherently global issue whose impacts will vary from region to region across the globe. Many elements of human society and the environment are sensitive to climate variability and change. These include human health, agriculture, nature, ecosystem, coastal areas, health and cooling requirements.

Let me at this point highlight some of the already observed and predicted impacts of climate change across the globe. There are already over 25million environmental refugees across the globe resulting from changing rain patterns, floods, storms and rising tides. Recently there has been an increase in flooding in many areas across the globe especially in Europe, Asia and China. Whilst some areas of the world have higher amounts of rain, others experience the opposite, severe drought. This is because climate change is causing rain patterns to change. The predicted impacts in developing countries will be greater in terms of loss of life and relative effect on investments and economy. For instance, livelihoods built for generations on particular regimes of farming may quickly become unsustainable due to lack of infrastructure to cope with increased drought, flood and erosion. The implication is that an estimated 56-96 million people in Africa may be at risk of hunger by 2050. Scientists have warned that climate variability and the frequency and intensity of severe weather events will increase.

As a result of the peculiar positioning of Lagos as a coastal state, we are already experiencing some of the effects of climate variability such as bar beach flooding and erosion, intensive rainfall and sea level rise in coastal areas. Our State, located in the Southwest part of Nigeria, lies on the narrow coast plain of the bight of Benin. It is a low-lying coastal region of about 1.5m above mean sea level with a flat topography characterized by wetland, high water table, poor soil ratification and excessive rainfall. We therefore have every reason to be concerned about climate change and the only rational thing to do is to take proactive measures to address this challenge as we are doing today.

A global challenge, as unprecedented as climate change, will test humanity’s capacity to solve shared problems as never before. Climate change transcends natural borders and cuts across numerous areas of policy – from energy to transport, from food security to water management and from individual behavior to global governance. This is why the theme of today’s event is “The clarion call”. Above all, climate change is a clarion call upon humanity to change the life style we have been accustomed to and ultimately the greatest responsibility that all of us have to our children and the future. As we move forward, our Administration will put in place a policy on climate change aimed at three major objectives. These are slowing down the emission of greenhouse gases from all human activities by all and sundry including individuals, government and the organized private sector; strengthening science, technology and environmental education in our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions and enhancing international cooperation to contain the challenge..

The Lagos State Government in its crusade against global warming has taken fundamental steps towards addressing the release of Ozone depleting substances into the atmosphere in the area of waste management. We have achieved significant improvement in municipal waste collection through partnership with the private sector. In this respect a total of over N4billion or $32million from the private sector has been invested directly in waste collection in the last four years in Lagos State. Government investment in the waste collection sector in the last 8years is about N9billion or $72million capital and N27.5billion or $220million in recurrent. The investment accounted for significant improvement of about 75% efficiency in waste collection in Lagos i.e. a significant increase from 30% in 1999 to 75% in 2007.

Still on waste management, the Lagos State Government has also commenced the construction of an integrated landfill waste management facility with the following components; engineered sanitary landfill site, material recovery plant, bio-gas and leachate collection and composting facility. This will reduce drastically emission of methane and other greenhouse gases from the disposal activities. In a related vein, we are already implementing a waste-to-wealth programme through Public/ Private Sector Partnership. An American firm, Messrs Earthcare Nigeria Limited has established a $20million plant at Ikorodu, which converts refuse to compost. The plant, currently converts 500metric tonnes of municipal solid waste into organic fertilizer. A nylon/plastic buy-back programme is also on-going whereby youths are engaged to bring in plastic trash and get paid by weight towards recycling of the waste into pellet and intermediate raw material for other products.

In the area of air pollution control, our Administration is currently installing three environmental monitoring stations to determine ambient air quality and to establish baseline data towards air quality standardization and control. And in order to combat flooding, erosion and forestall other mishaps, the State Government has embarked upon communal dredging, construction and maintenance of canals and drainage channels. We are equally determined to drastically reduce the vehicular emission by vehicles on our roads. Towards this end, the first phase of our Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) from Mile 12 to CMS has commenced and we will soon re-invigorate the MOT vehicle testing program while the dredging of our waterways and construction of jetties to prepare for the expansion of water transit services across several routes in the State is at an advanced stage.

Furthermore, the Operation Green Lagos has been given priority by this Administration in the last eight months through beautification projects including enumeration and tagging of trees. In addition to criminalizing tree felling without recourse to the Ministry of the Environment, we have scheduled a tree planting day which will be yearly commemorated in Lagos State towards ensuring the provision of trees within a few years and also protecting the old ones. Our seriousness on the issue of climate change in Lagos is underscored by the fact that Lagos is the only State in Nigeria to participate actively in the KYOTO PROTOCOL on Methane Gas Capture by endorsing a trading agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) recently.

On the international scene, Lagos State is one of the C40 Large cities of climate leadership group comprising of forty cities under the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) launched in year 2006 by President Bill Clinton to implement and support programmes that can directly result in substantial green house gas emission reduction. In its four months of existence, the CCI has begun innovative programmes for building retrofits, solid waste management, transportation; forestry preservation, clean power energy generation and lighting retrofits to enable member cities reduce energy use and green gas emission. The group is expected to assist in the areas of transportation and congestion through: Intelligent Traffic Management Systems such as LED Traffic lights; Technical Assistance to conduct Traffic Demand Management Studies, which will cover areas as congestion charging and toll systems among others; Publicity Education Programmes and Training for Traffic Management Officials

The essence of today’s launch is to further inculcate in our pupils the need to be actively involved in the protection of the environment in order to safeguard and secure their future from the impending catastrophe looming on humanity as a result of unwholesome human activities engendering global warming.

My dear students, you are from today implored to take a very active interest in issues concerning the environment. The future belongs to you and you must be at the vanguard of our effort to act now in ways that will enable us to preserve that future for you. Towards this end we expect that you will from now on carry out the following activities:
• Sweep the surrounding of your homes and schools everyday;
• Bag your refuse, put it in the container in a corner of your home or school where the appointed Government Waste Operator will come to collect it and transport it to the dumpsites. Never adopt burning/incineration as an alternative; correct people who do it politely and explain to them the danger of such activities. Be the pacesetters wherever you are, sort the refuse when the sorting containers are available, never, never burn your refuse;
• Never dump refuse in gutters, drains, median of roads and streets; inform and explain to your parents, friends, guardians and others that it can lead to flooding, disease, death and other dangers which they can avoid;
• Do not drop litter (pure water sachets, food wrappers) on roads, streets or your school compound;
• Beautify your surroundings, school premises and houses where you live,
• Plant trees in your school and houses it would help slow down the challenge of erosion where they exist in our state such as Alimosho and Magodo. It also provides shade and oxygen for breathing and it cleans the environment by absorbing the carbon-dioxide emitted by humans and from the exhaust of vehicles. By planting trees, you are not only enhancing the aesthetics of the environment, you are also generating employment and thereby reducing poverty. Research has proven that even seeing GREEN always improve your sight;
• Clean the drains in front and within your school compound and your house regularly;
• Challenge yourself with the scientific development of mechanisms that are not only preventive but can combat the threat of climatic change;
• Be a vanguard of this message, educate your parents;
• Enlighten your friends, church/mosques members and those you come in contact with anywhere on the danger of global warming and ways of preventing it;
• Cooperate with the Lagos State Government, especially the Ministry of the environment to make Lagos cleaner for all of us so that we can live in a healthy environment, attract more business into Lagos, create more jobs, reduce crime and pay fewer bills on malaria, typhoid, cholera and other diseases.

Finally, I wish to call on all industrialists, business concerns and others whose activities have a polluting effect to heed the Kyoto mechanisms which continually commit them to emission reduction regimes, carbon trading and other strategies to mitigating climate change. I firmly believe that protecting tropical forests and tree planting can be the keystone of a new carbon trading regime to the benefit of the global climate, species and habital protection.

I am glad that your presentations, talks, and essays today clearly show that you appreciate the dangers inherent in climate change and you only need to be further challenged and propelled to sustain the crusade. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I appeal to all Lagosians, businesses, civil society groups and the organized private sector to embrace a clean and green life style by beautifying your environment, planting trees, patronizing the appointed waste operators, refrain from burning or disposing refuse in the drains and making sure your vehicles are road worthy and emission free.

It is now my pleasure to launch the Climate Change Clubs (CCC) in all Lagos State public schools to the glory of God and for a clean, healthy and sustainable Lagos environment.

I thank you and God bless you all.

Eko o ni baje o!

Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
Governor of Lagos State