Esther Akinsola
At the Dawn Project Giving Prize, experts have encouraged Nigerians on waste recycling for a safer and healthier environment as part of efforts to promote a sustainable world.
The event which was themed, “Recycle for Sustainability: Making a Difference in Our Climate and Our Lives”, was powered by the Dawn Project and held in Lagos.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health said that the initiative for aligning with the ‘One House Agenda’ of the State Government speaks to a holistic approach to human health juxtaposed with nature.
He emphasised: “We believe that as human beings we cannot be healthy when the environment and the food we eat are not healthy. If the environment is messed up, then we become stressed in a toxic environment.”
The commissioner further applauded The Dawn Project for its resolve to nurture a healthy environment which in turn nurtures the avenue for healthy Lagosians.
While highlighting the state government’s commitment to the cause, he urged the private sector and civil societies to key into the government’s vision and mission for a healthier environment, a healthier lifestyle for citizens and, ultimately, a healthier Lagos.
Speaking also, a Director at Bridge Clinic, Dr Pamela Ajayi the Dawn Project is focused on arousing Nigerians to a new consciousness about the environment by presenting issues of climate change interestingly through the creative arts.
She, however, bemoaned the rise in cases of cancer in the country even among young people. Adding, she blamed emissions from vehicles and power-generating sets, and plastic waste as major causes of environmental pollution.
She, therefore, charged: The time has come to deal with these challenges decisively. Plastics do not decay or go anywhere beyond the earth. “The plastics are broken down into pieces and swallowed by the fishes in the sea. People take this back from the fish they consume.”
For the Environmental Activist and Founder, LUFASI Park, Desmond Majekodunmi, addressing the climate challenge should be everybody’s business.
This is as he tasked the youth to challenge the elders to address the climate situation that is slowly killing people.
In the words of an environmentalist and collaborator of The Dawn Project, Stanley Evans MBE, the population of Lagos and Nigeria has experienced an upheave over the past few years.
“The lack of knowledge on how to interact with nature has made us vulnerable”, hence, educating and assisting the youth become a necessity. “The earth has suffered abuse from the previous generation,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, participants across Nigeria ages seven and above sent in their entries for the competition. The cash prizes range from N50,000 to N200,000 coupled with consolation prizes for the finalists and winners respectively.
The Dawn Project is an environmental conservation organisation dedicated to addressing the consequences of climate change through artistic expression to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment for the benefit of all.
Its unique approach to the climate crisis, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, is through the adoption of art – spoken, written, musical, visual and/or movement – as a means of expressing the issues and seeking creative solutions.
