Confab Delegate Blames Environmental Challenges On Negligence

A delegate at the ongoing
National Conference, Mr Olu wai-Ogosu, has attributed the numerous environmental challenges facing the country to the negligence of past leaders.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, Wai-Ogosu, who is also the President, Nigerian Environmental Society, also decried the ignorance of elites about environmental issues.
“What we are facing today on the environment is as a result of negligence on the part of our elites.
“We have just discovered in the conference that most of our elites do not know anything about the environment.
“You can imagine that some of the delegates had held one leadership position or the other, yet they are not properly informed about environmental issues.
“Due to the lack of knowledge about  environment issues, our leaders in the past formulated  unsustainable  policies for the sector, and the same people will talk about sustainable development.’’
“We must all be concerned about our environment to protect it and prevent it from destruction.
Wai-Ogosu advised the Federal Government to make Ecological Fund a trust fund for development.
He said that easy access to the fund would address those ecological challenges which could degenerate to emergencies.
He stressed the need to create an office outside the presidency to administer the fund, saying that the idea of retaining the fund and for only emergency situations, was not in the best interest of the environment.
He urged governments at all levels to demonstrate more commitment in tackling the nation’s perennial ecological problems, noting that the poor masses lacked the capacity to address ecological challenges.
According to him, they can only avoid negative attitudes towards the environment, if properly sensitised.
He, however, said that the 2014 World Environment Day showed that most Nigerians were beginning to be aware of environmental issues.