GreenMONNCS

Every day for the past week, Nigerians in various parts of the nation and the diaspora- young, old, rich, poor, learned and unlearned have risen up with one voice. That one peaceful voice of the masses is calling for the end to a system which ordinarily implemented to serve and protect the lives of all, both citizen and foreigner alike have for many years been a terror, a menace, a killer of hopes and dreams, a jailer of freedom. Nigerians walking the streets, home and abroad. The average Nigerian lives with an underlying dread for any encounter or interaction with the men and women of its security forces. Young men and women are harassed daily for their choice of hairstyle, dress, electronic device and automobile; victims of crimes or injustices are further victimized by the people who are tasked to uphold truth and justice and innocent people are carted away in wanton raids, imprisoned and even executed for not having enough money to "bail" themselves. Yet, no one gets puni

And it's a beautiful daaaay!  Taan taan taan (strumming an electric guitar like a rock star) It is another 5th day in the month of June in yet another year. For those who may not know, today is the day that individuals, communities, governments, organizations and even celebrities from over 143 countries of the world come together to raise awareness for a specific environmental issue to commemorate World Environment Day.  The focus for this year’s Eco Day AKA Environment Day is themed “Beat Air Pollution” and the global festivities are being hosted by China. It is estimated that about 7 million people die prematurely every year around the world; of this number, a whopping 4 million of these occur in the Asia-Pacific. The choice of China as this year’s host can be traced to its growing green energy sector; in fact, China owns 50% of the electric vehicles and 99% of the electric buses in the world. The head of UN Environment, Joyce Msuya, describes China as having “demonstra

Looking at the Sustainable Development Goals and how expanded they have become, they may appear overwhelming and really challenging to plug into. However, one Non-Governmental initiative in Lagos, Nigeria has found a way to contribute to the achievement of not just one but two SDGs. The African Clean-Up Initiative (ACI) has been able to draw an intersection between providing education and building sustainable cities and communities, through its back2school campaign titled ‘RecyclePay’, that allows parents and children of Morit International School Ajegunle to pay their school fees with plastic bottles from the environment that have been sorted and cleaned. For those who do not know, Ajegunle is one of the most popular ghettos in Nigeria. Notoriously known for impossibly high levels of poverty, crime and filth, adoption of the Recycle Pay Education Project by the school authorities not only helps ease the burden of paying term fees but also encourages guardians who normally would pre

I attended an event on branding last weekend and boy did I experience so many brilliant shades of awesome! I got to listen to vibrant people expand on the true meaning of being or owning a “brand” and how we can make our local ingenuity have a global appeal. After many enlightening sessions, I had a light bulb moment as regards advocacy for the environment in Nigeria and these questions came to me: 1.       “What does the average Nigerian understand by environmental sustainability?” 2.       “What do they feel about waste materials?” 3.       “What comes to mind when they think of waste disposal?” These questions border on the perceived understanding AKA “brand perception” of waste materials in Nigeria. It has been said times without number that “You cannot give what you do not have”. This means that if you do not value something enough to learn about it or own it, you cannot then pass that value on to someone else. This principle applies to proper waste management in Nigeria –

What’s so special about the 18 th day of March? Let’s hazard a few tip-of-the-finger guesses, shall we? Celebrity birthday/marriage/break- up anniversary? Nope Country independence day? Nope Come oooon… this is no regular pop-culture make-up-break-up fiasco – something very important to modern day living was celebrated around the world on this day! Ok, I will tell you. March 18 th is Global Recycling Day people! Seeing as the very first Global Recycling day was celebrated only last year in 2018, you are forgiven. But just this once. ok? A little background information will help... Global Recycling Day is the brainchild of Global Recycling Foundation which was formed by the Bureau of International Recycling in 2018. It runs an independent mission to promote, support and showcase the importance of global recycling to the future of the planet Earth. Anyone with any knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals (formerly Millennium Development Goals) knows that cl

. Even before the year 2019 came rolling in, the air was heavy with election antics: The sprouting of new political parties like weeds; Forging and felling of alliances; Candidates shouting accusations of opponents' failures from the treetops and of course The free-for-all social media battles with "keyboard warriors" wielding words, memes and damning pictures for battle artillery. In the midst of the "who did what and who did it worse", no mention is made of our steadily degrading environment and how this is affecting our dear country on a daily basis. While forward-thinking countries are researching, testing and collaborating on the most sustainable methods to best combat the looming danger that is climate change, the Nigerian people are distracted by the trending hashtags and comedic spins on actions worthy of national embarrassment. We have been touted as the "happiest people on earth" for our ability to turn every bad situation into a