Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt
A non-governmental organisation, Tilda Goes Green (TGG) Foundation has raised the alarm over the neglect of the impact of climate change on the Niger Delta region and parts of the country.
The foundation also announced the take-off of its plans to provide street waste bins in Port Harcourt metropolis and educational opportunities for indigent children in Rivers State.
Addressing journalists at the unveiling of the body in Port Harcourt yesterday, the President of Tilda Goes Green (TGG) Foundation, Rivers State-born actress and producer, Matilda Lambert, noted that while many parts of the world are taking steps to address issues of climate change, Nigeria, especially the governments and corporate bodies operating in the Niger Delta region, were not bothered.
“The abject lack of political will has left the Creek people vulnerable to the claws of climate change,” she lamented, adding “We are now faced with the crude fumes of gas, flared with reckless abandon and the incessant oil spillages that decimate riverian livelihoods to economic waste land.”
She lamented, “As result, the third largest wetlands has strived to survive greenhouse holocausts forced on her by the petroleum corporations at the expense if Niger Delta villages.”
She said TGG was committed to creating a green economy for the next generations of the Niger Delta by securing a future founded on the 13 goals agenda of the foundation, covering education, innovation, culture, villages, lifestyles, fashion, tourism, justice and business, among others.
Lambert also lamented the indiscriminate and reckless disposal of waste in the region, adding that the trend was killing the environment.
She said her foundation would spend about N25 million to install waste baskets in streets of Port Harcourt to improve the sanitary condition of the metropolis in the first phase of the exercise.
She also expressed concern over the plight of many indigent children in the region who are shut out from the future because if their inability to attend schools or learn any meaningful handiwork, and said her foundation was determined to change the narrative for the less-privileged.
“We are therefore calling for help from government, individuals and corporate organisations to reach out to the less-privileged, especially children, so that we can put themselves in schools: nursery, primary and secondary, to ensure their future,” she stated.
