The Green Sahara farms in partnership with the Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA) and Sterling One Foundation Agro-forestry for Climate Action Project (SACAP) have engaged in the planting of 10,000 trees across 24 unity colleges.
This is in a bid to mitigate the impact of climate change such as flooding and desertification across the country.
The President General of USOSA, Mr. Mike Magaji, at the inauguration of the tree planting at the Federal Government Girls College, Bwari, on Friday, said there was a need to inculcate the culture of environmental participation through young children.
Magaji said that doing this would make the children grow up to learn and appreciate the values of keeping the environment safe and clean, thereby protecting the country and environment.
According to him, one of the ways of doing it is tree planting. We are in the first phase, we are going to do 10,000 trees in 24 unity schools across the country.
“This project is to introduce basically environmentally friendly programme and in this case tree planting to unity schools across Nigeria.
” We are working with Sterling One Foundation and Green Sahara Farms to plant trees to protect these schools and the children while also guaranteeing the future of our environment.
” You are aware of the issues of climate change, desertification on the one side in the north, and flooding on the other side in the south.
“So this is very significant and it is important that we recognize the importance of the environment and also try to preserve it,” he said.
Magaji added that the project would target six states by geopolitical zones while pledging to scale up the project further through adequate monitoring.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Green Sahara Farms, Mr. Suleiman Dikwa, said that the best way to protect the environment was through the students.
Dikwa urged the Federal Ministry of Education to inculcate the project into schools’ curricula to arouse the consciousness of students toward a safer environment.
He said that the importance of tree planting could not be overemphasized as it had a way of contributing to the nutritional growth of the people.
In the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Sterling One Foundation, Mrs. Olapeju Ibekwe, encouraged the students to nurture the trees planted to fight against climate change.
” The issue of climate change is a global pandemic, so it is important that everyone come together to address it,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who lauded the initiative, described it as one of the unique benefits of agroforestry was to provide mitigation benefits along with adaptation to climate change.
Adamu, represented by the Deputy Director, Education Support Services in the ministry, Dr. Uche Udoji, said the nutrition tree planting initiative would provide a lot of environmental, economic, and social benefits to the teachers, learners, and the schools in general.
“We are all aware of the great threat that climate change poses to the planet and also aware of Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG 13) which calls for Climate action and for protecting lives.
” The goal enjoins us to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.
” I must not fail to acknowledge that this initiative is timely and apt with the recent introduction of the ‘Environmental Clubs’ in our schools for the purpose of climate change adaptation and Disaster risk reduction.
” The club will provide a platform for tree planting, gardening school-wide clean-up, and recycling scheme,” he said.
The media reports that the inauguration which was sponsored by the Green Sahara Farms featured the establishment of the Young Agro-forestry Club in the school.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
