UNIZIK marks World Environmental Day

… Urges citizens to protect ecosystem

THE Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Charles Esimone has said that God created  trees to sustain life. It makes life fruitful and shouldn’t be taken for granted and must be rested for its value.

Prof Esimone stated this at the 14th Annual Lecture of the Department of Environmental Sciences as part of activities to mark ‘World Environment Day’.  According to him, “we humans have always destroyed and the best way to restore what God has given is to encourage people and letting the world know the importance of taking care of the environment. In our university, we are committed to rebuilding the environment by planting trees and sustaining the environmental.”

The 2-day event, which saw the entire staff and students of the departments that make up the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, created awareness as they had placards and banners on a motor cade, going round the university community.

Speaking at event with the theme, “Ecosystem Restoration, Supporting the Economy to Cope with the Challenges of the COVID -19 Pandemic, Dean, Faculty Of Environmental Sciences,  Prof Ifeanyi Enete, said that to restore the country’s  forest,  citizens must engage in cultivating mangroves as well planting trees in  urban settings. He thanked the vice chancellor of the university for his support and effort in adding more departments to the faculty.

In his speech, the guest speaker and professor of Biogeography, Department of Geography  from University of Nigeria, Nsuka, Prof Philip Eze, said that ecosystem was a kind of bio-diversity which tells the floral and the fonder. 

“We talk of system of life, where we have energy from the sun converted through the process of photosynthesis, the source of food we eat, through insulation of plant converting to vegetables or tubers.

“The meat we eat, they survived by eating green vegetation and where it is not around, cows and its likes will starve and the animals that feed on each other,  like lions and tigers will suffer.  The manure you see around, they  decompose and help the plant to grow,” he said.

Fielding question with one of the organisers of the event and a lecturer at the faculty, Emma Nwobu, said in this years World Environmental Day, we planted a lot of trees, the V.C. planted first, followed by all the professors in the faculty and all our guests. We have over 500 trees planted.