Nigerians Urged to Play Role in Climate Action, Earth’s Conservation

Bennett Oghifo

Nigerians have been urged to play individual roles in the environmental conservation as a way of mitigating the harmful consequences of climate change.

The advice came up at THE HERDS in Lagos on Easter Sunday. 

THE HERDS, a particularly unique and intriguing initiative in this category, blends art with climate advocacy and will visit major cities worldwide in 2025, including Lagos, Nigeria.

Produced globally by The Walk Productions, THE HERDS is a public art and climate project featuring life-size puppet animals fleeing their ecosystems in response to a rapidly changing climate that’s adversely affecting their well-being and way of life. For years, scientists, leading world organisations, and various NGOs have called for meaningful collective climate action. THE HERDS is doing the same, but with a focus on creating experiences and evoking emotions that will make people care enough to take responsibility.

The Director General of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Dr. Joseph Onoja said, “We are here because of THE HERDS. And this particular programme is to showcase the migration of THE HERDS. If you heard about the great Serengeti migration, that is migration of animals from one point to the other, especially when the place they are is dry. They normally move to a greener place to go and get more fodder or more forage. So that’s why they move from one point to the other. But it also shows the importance of the cycle of life, because sometimes when an area is not conducive, animals normally move from one point to other, apart from terrestrial animals, even aquatic animals move as well. 

But this particular event is organised to showcase how interconnected humans are to nature and also what role that we need to play to create that awareness, so that humans will know that we are not alone in this. Animals are part of our survival here on Earth.”

He explained that “Usually there’s a migratory pattern for animals, and because of the change in the climatic condition, those migratory patterns are being interrupted. And once you interrupt it, it affects us as humans. “Whatever I’m saying, I want to tie it back to us as humans, because at the end of the day, that is what matters, what happens to us as humans? “These animals don’t just exist on their own. They exist to provide what we call ecosystem service. And once this ecosystem service is no longer there, the ecosystem collapses, and this is the ecosystem that is supposed to protect and support us as humans. So if it collapses, then we’ll be in big trouble. That is why it’s very important for us to continue to create awareness on this. 

“Everybody is involved in the conservation of the earth. So ask yourself, what role are you playing to conserve the planet? Because as long as we conserve the planet, then the planet will be able to conserve us. But if we don’t protect the planet, then the planet will not be able to protect us. And as I come to say about the ecosystem service they provide for us, the fresh air we have, the fresh water that we have, the animals that we have, the plants that we have, the food that we have, are all very important.

“As Nigerians, we are certainly not doing enough, and that’s why we continue to create avenues to create awareness so that we will know what role that we need to play.” 

Onoja said the government’s policies on environment and conservation were not being implemented properly. “The government has policies, but those policies are not being implemented as they should. “But even apart from the government, as Nigerians, we have a big role to play. It’s not the government that goes around and clear forests, it is humans, it is individuals that are involved in it, so we need to know that our role is very important in all of this.

Also discussing environmental conservation, the General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Dr. Babatunde Ajayi said the day’s event “highlights the importance of environmental protection, protecting the species, protecting the nature that you have around the environment, and I think it’s also a very strong educational tool that passes this message straight to children and kids in school, who will tomorrow pass it on to other people. So I think the organisers have done a great job. THE HERDS uses creativity and art theater to promote environmental protection and sustainability. We are the Environmental Protection Agency. We make sure that every single part of pollution, or every kind of pollution that affects the environment is abated in good time. So we talk about air pollution, land pollution, water pollution, in different forms and different ways that they affect the environment. These kinds of things endanger species, these kind of activities damage communities and make them uninhabitable for animals of other species and even plants.

“Projects like this help us propagate and emphasise our essence to the younger community, to younger kids and children in schools.”