By Tunji Adedeji
FUTO Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chigozie Asiabaka has harped on the benefit of environmental sustainability, saying there is need to ensure that activities and habits are carried out in an environmentally friendly manner.
The academic guru made this disclosure during an activity marking the 2014 World Environmental Day (WED) celebration organized by Centre for Women Gender and Development Studies (CWGDS) in FUTO last Tuesday September 2, 2014.
According to the erudite scholar, tillage for agriculture, waste disposal, flood control infrastructures industries and factories, petroleum products, generators for electricity, body perfumes and the air-conditioning facilities for our environment affect negatively. He reiterated that from the coastal states to the northern regions of the country, environmental challenges stare the country in the face. Stressing that 2014 degradation, rapid deforestation, urban air and water pollution, desertification, oil pollution have continued to be sources of concern to the people, just as environment has suffered serious damage which is now manifesting in the form of climate change and rising sea level situation where people urinate and defecate in discriminately in the open place, cough and spit out without restraint in a crowd, eat food without proper washing of hands, dump human corpses on high ways where they are allowed to decomposes for a long time thereby causing very dangerous and unhygienic habit that can no longer be condoned this time, of Ebola Virus epidemics.
He advised the government to promulgate appropriate and implementable sanctions that must discourage such in sanitary habit and behaviours, stressing that his administration takes the issue of environmental sanitation very seriously.
In her welcome address, Dr (Mrs) Ihuoma Asiabaka AG, Director Centre for Women Gender and Development Studies, FUTO pointed out that this year’s WED is the 3rd in the series of annual events organized by CWGDS to enable the University Community join their counter parts in the global conversation on environment issues.
Dr Asiabaka opined that 2014 theme highlight how individual action can negatively impact on the environment as she hope the celebration will help each individual to be more friendly with the environment by changing habit that impact negatively.
Dr Emmanuel Attah Ubuoh, in his insightful keynote paper presentation titled Environmental Sustainability: Women, Pesticides and Agriculture in global perspective noted that the effects of pesticides are not only limited to the plant to which they are applied. They also affect human, an animal and environment, stressing that it call for mitigation for environmental sustainability.
