In its contributory effort to address the challenges of climate change in Nigeria, the Red Cross Society of Nigeria (RCSN) has announced its plan to plant five billion trees across 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
The announcement was made by the Anambra State branch Secretary of the Society, Engr. Kingsley Okoye, during the official flagging off of a 10,000-tree planting exercise/special governance workshop organized by the Society in collaboration with the Healthy Living Initiative, featuring Nonye Soludo. This event was held at the RCSN headquarters in Amawbia-Awka on Thursday.
Okoye noted that the nationwide exercise will be completed before the end of 2030.
He stated that the 10,000-tree planting exercise is part of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s vision of building a clean, green, livable, and prosperous state in Nigeria.
The RCSN scribe emphasized that the idea behind the exercise is to mobilize every household in the state to take responsibility for making their homes green by planting at least two trees.
Engr. Okoye, who explained that the environment is the number one existential threat, lamented that humanity is being unkind to nature, stressing that if nature is not befriended, it will continue to take its toll on its inhabitants.
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The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike, who represented the state governor’s wife, Mrs. Nonye Soludo, at the event, enumerated the challenges of environmental carelessness, which include flooding and erosion, and urged households in the state to manage water within their compounds.
He stated that the current administration is already implementing measures to keep Anambra clean, and that within his first term in office, more sustainable plans to ban open and public dumping of waste will be rolled out.
He noted that the Soludo administration is also committed to re-enacting the palm revolution and re-engineering the coconut economy in the state, adding that if these efforts are consistently maintained over a ten-year period, Anambra will become the greenest state in Nigeria.
In his remarks, the President of the Red Cross Society of Nigeria, Prince Oluyemisi Adetayo Adeaga, stated that the Society will continue to support the Government of Nigeria in addressing all hazard situations in the country.
Adeaga, who was represented by the Society’s National Legal Adviser, Barrister Mauzu Dikwa, used the event to announce that the organization has supported over 2,000 households during flood responses in 2021 and 2022 in Anambra State.
The President also appealed to the government and well-to-do individuals in Nigeria to continue supporting the Red Cross Society for the sake of humanity.
In his brief speech, the Senior Officer for Climate Change in Nigeria, Mr. Sunday Awulu, stated that climate change is caused by activities such as cutting down trees for firewood, which has damaged the natural soil.
Awulu urged for mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce the effects of climate change in the country, noting that the tree planting campaign is vital to restoring a conducive environment in Africa and boosting the agricultural sector for food sufficiency.
