Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, Conservator-General, National Park Service, has called on Nigerians to support Government efforts at mitigating climate change to save the country from impending danger.
Goni made the call in a statement signed by Yakubu Zull, his Media Assistant on Friday in Abuja, while receiving a donation of 112 seedlings from two Youth Corps Members.
The corps members; Mr Abdullahi Gbale and Miss Izere Martha, served in the Department of Agric and Rural Development Secretariat of the FCTA.
According to Goni, the Service appreciates the gesture and the timing of the donation, saying it is in line with the vision of the present Government on climate change mitigation.
“Nigeria’s seven National Parks cover about three per cent of the country’s total land area and this to me is grossly inadequate for a country of over 200 million people.
“I want to, therefore, urge all of us to support the vision of the President to keep and protect the environment for the sustainability of the present and yet unborn generations’’.
The C-G said that the negative impacts of climate change could be seen in the recent flooding across the various States of the Federation.
“Even in the upsurge of diseases in plants and animals, degradation of land in and around the Parks, desertification in the north, siltation of Lake Chad, it is my belief that the donation of these seedlings is an attempt in the right direction,” he said.
Goni commended the corp members who had keyed into the vision of biodiversity preservation as part of their contribution towards community development in the service of their fatherland.
He also assured them that the seedlings would be shared to both primary and secondary schools in Abuja as part of the service’s conservation education programme.
Martha, the leader of the team, in her remarks stated that their passion for a healthy environment began during their Industrial Training Attachment in Old Oyo National Park, Oyo in 2017.
She said that having met her colleague again during their service year, they decided to push their passion a step further by making the environment a better place for all to live in.
While recounting some effects of climate change, Izere noted that the donation was a service to humanity in an attempt to support mitigation of climate change and enhance development.
Martha solicited the assistance of the National Park Service to support them in the noble course.
The seedlings donated by the corps members include 27 seedlings each of Neem (Azadirachta), indica, Gmelina arborea, Guava (Psidium guajava) and Teak (Tectona grandis).
Others include two seedlings each of Orange (Citrus aurantium) and Mango. (NAN)
