BUDDING ENVIRONMENTALISTS AT THE FACULTY OF LAW UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, ENUGU CAMPUS CELEBRATING THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2017

By Millicent Ele

The environmental law class at the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria has always been vibrant and engaging. It is an elective course for the final year class. For this reason, students that elect to offer environmental law are generally the ones that truly love the environment and desire not only to enjoy and be part of it but to preserve and protect it for the present and future generations. I consider it quite fulfilling and indeed a privilege to help in training these future Nigerian environmentalists and policy makers.

The World Environment Day celebrated globally every 5^th of June is a unique day for the environmental law class as the theme of the celebration is usually discussed in class with students coming up with fresh ideas and solutions relating to the theme. Canada, the host country for 2017 World Environment Day chose the theme “Connecting people to nature.” This enjoins people to get outdoors and enjoy nature, to appreciate its beauty and importance and to take positive action to protect the environment.

I decided to give the students assignment to do something for the benefit of the environment in celebration of the World Environment Day 2017. Below are some of the things they did in commemoration of the day.

►Some went out to the general public on the streets, in buses and other modes of public transportation to teach and create awareness about the environment; emphasizing such issues as proper waste disposal and cleanup, recycling, and pollution control, sustainable consumption, global warming etc. Others went to the rural inhabitants in the Niger Delta area and Aba in Abia State of Nigeria also to teach and create awareness about proper environmental management. Others simply gathered/mingled among fellow students at the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC) also to create environmental awareness.

►Some students went to Youth Fellowship Centres to encourage the youths and their teachers to help in protecting the environment by avoiding activities that pollute and harm the environment. Some captioned the exercise “The Impact of Human Activities on the Environment” using charts and teaching aids for illustrations while others created Posters which they placed in strategic places to emphasize the theme for this year’s world environment day.

 

►Some decided to catch them early by teaching the younger ones about the environment. Quite a good number of students went to Primary and Secondary Schools again to teach the pupils about the environment. Some even distributed sweeping brooms as token gift.

 

 

►Yet other focused on clean and healthy environment through proper cleanup of the surroundings by cutting the grasses and cleaning litters around waste bins.  Some went with the motto “Keep it Clean, Green and Comfortable” and others went with the hashtag #Operation Keep UNEC Clean 2017” to depict their love for clean environment.

►Others decided to clean drainages to prevent clogging, contamination of ground water, water wells and boreholes as well as to prevent standing water that helps in breeding mosquitoes and other harmful pests.

 

►Some organized Operation Pick It Up, to pick up litters around the campus. They emphasized the need to always use proper waste receptacles for waste disposal rather than littering it around stressing that a clean environment is a healthy environment.

►Others emphasized tree planting under the hashtag #Operation Re-populate the Environment 2017. This was to replace cut-down trees. They found this necessary because trees provide natural air conditioning from the hot tropical sun, sinks for carbon dioxide, fresh air (oxygen) for animal respiration and brakes for wind and soil erosion. But others planted flowers to beautify the environment.

►Some decided to simply appreciate and admire the beauty of UNEC greenery and flowers.

►Others visited natural caves and waterfalls to connect with nature.

Some went to Awhum (Ohum) Caves and Waterfalls and others to Ezeagu Waterfall

     Courtesy: Enugu State Tourism Board

This is Awhum Limestone Cave located in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. It is close to a monastery and surrounded by lush, green vegetation which is home to a variety of biological species.

      Courtesy: Enugu State Tourism Board

This is a breath-taking view of Awhum Waterfalls located in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. The waterfall is 30 meters high cascading over a stretch of landscape. It is close to a monastery and the water is believed to have a therapeutic effect.

►Others decided to organized online campaign for the environment using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Nairaland to reach millions of users across the world including students and academicians. Some went with the hashtag #I’mwithnature in order to sensitize people about the World Environment Day and the importance of keeping a clean and healthy environment. Others specifically campaigned against the requirement of hard copies of undergraduate thesis for grading. They recommended going paperless through the submission of softcopies in order to avoid the problems of storage space and improper disposal of the hardcopies. They pointed out that apart from the environmental consequences of wrong disposal, going paperless will also help to avoid deforestation since trees are used as raw materials in paper mills. They encouraged the creation of online data base for students’ thesis/projects in order to guarantee not only a quick access to scholarly information but to help in research outcomes and improved environment.