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Regional News of Wednesday, 16 June 2021

Source: nannews.ng

Climate Change: NGO takes tree planting campaign to students in FCT

The photo used to illustrate the story The photo used to illustrate the story

Purplehands Empowerment Initiative, an NGO, has extended tree planting campaign to students of Junior Secondary School, Kuchigoro community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Briefing newsmen at the event held on Tuesday in Abuja, the Founder of the NGO, Dr Brenda Nduaguibe, stressed the need for inculcating environmental education to children and youth at the early stage of their lives.

She noted that children and youths constituted a large population that could influence the environmental behaviour of their parents and schools.

Nduaguibe, while inaugurating mentorship strategy tagged, “Purple Hands Environmental Care Club (PHECC)’’, aimed at addressing environmental and climate challenges in FCT, explained that it would encourage students to study their environment.

The founder added that the strategy would contribute to solving environmental problems and raise environmental literacy and the children’s total educational experience.

She also said that the strategy would among other things assist children and youth to understand the consequences of human activities on the earth and its resources.

“This will enable them to understand decisions and actions that can be taken locally and globally to encourage sustainable living.

“Government agencies saddled with the responsibility to protect our environment should show more commitment in partnership with initiatives such as this and other NGOs are encouraged to embrace and appreciate how vulnerable and threatened socioeconomic life has become.

“Therefore, it is crucial to create the awareness and understanding of individuals and citizens about the relationship between humans for the natural world,’’ she said.

Earlier, the Director, FCT Department of Parks and Recreation, Mrs Riskatu Abdulazeez, described the intervention as a great initiative by the NGO, in partnership with the FCT Administration.

She noted that if the young ones are drilled on proper environmental knowledge and practices, it intends to be sustainable.

The director noted that the club would go a long way in environmental sustainability for the present and future generations.

“When we inculcate the effort of planting trees to these children it will be with them as they grow older, and they will, in turn, pass it on to the future generations,’’ she added.

She, therefore, called on all interested partners and NGOs that have been partnering with the department to emulate the initiative by the Purple Hands, and ensure the replication of such clubs across schools in the Territory.

Also, Nicholas Ukwuka, Vice President, Administration, Junior Secondary School, Kuchigoro, assured that the culture of tree planting was going to be sustained by the school.

“We are going to do our best to ensure that the environment becomes greener, as we will select students to monitor the trees planted in the school,’’ he stressed.