It was Niyi Osundare, a renown Nigerian poet who is outstanding in ecological literature that decried the extent at which natural resources are destroyed in one of his poems titled, “Our Earth Will Not Die”. He writes, thus:
Lynched the lakes,
Slaughtered the seas,
Mauled the mountains.
But our earth will not die.
Here there everywhere,
a lake is killed by the arsenic urine
from the bladder of profit factories…………
Our inability to properly use and conserve these natural resources that were divinely given has over the years and in recent times posed a threat to our existence as humans, and, indisputably, many catastrophes that have befell man have been occasioned by the abuse of our divinely-given natural resources.
The Earth is Defaced.
A young girl trying to dispose of garbage into the gutter
I have been so worried recently about how untidy the environment I currently live in has been, owing to indiscriminate disposal of garbage by some people who live here. Worst of all, I see people who assume they are responsible dispose of their refuse into gutters on daily basis without even considering the consequences of their action. As a result, the area is always flooded during rainy days the gutters have been blocked by garbage.
A refuse dumping place in a school environment in my city
The government too should be held accountable because they have failed to provide a bin at public places for the proper disposal of these wastes. Seeing residents heap refuse by the road side in a capital city and a school environment is an eyesore.
This is how we can salvage the situation.
The government should devise means for proper waste management by providing a big trash can at strategic locations to curb indiscriminate disposal of garbage. When this is done, citizens should be directed on how to properly get rid of their wastes and punitive measures should be taken on those who are in the Habit of dumping refuse inside gutters. This will serve as a deterrent to others.
Another natural resource that Nigeria is heavily endowed with which has suffered abuse and mismanagement over the years is crude oil. Pipeline vandalism by unemployed miscreant has always led to oil spillage which has destroyed and rendered the farmlands within that area unproductive. The aquatic animals too are not spared.
To remedy this situation, first, everyone must learn how to live responsibly and productively because an idle brain is a devil’s workshop. Instead of spending all your life to wait for the government to create jobs, people who are unemployed should either engage in trade or take up menial jobs in the meantime for survival. The government on their part should put up skill acquisition centres in those areas, enroll the unemployed youths and empower them with startups upon the completion of their training.
Ultimately, Education will Eradicate Ignorance.
(A picture of myself with the learners I teach)
I believe that the right education will help in putting a stop to the abuse of our environment because many people who indulge in these acts are not exposed to the right information or education, that is why, as a seasoned teacher and an educator, I do not joke when the opportunity to enlighten learners on the abuse of natural resources comes. Many people who are given to environmental abuse do so ignorantly.
I believe that if we inculcate the right values and attitudes into children, and generally the people, by teaching them how to be productive and how not to be wasteful as well as the dangers that come with the abuse of these natural resources, we can help save our environment.
This should not be limited to school children alone – non-governmental organizations, environmental commissions, government agencies, the church and families; should take it upon themselves to educate people on how we can properly and effectively use our environment without abusing it.
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All photos used in this post are mine.
