About Us

Who We Are

Students’ Environmental Assembly Nigeria is a student’s oriented environmental organization with its primary focus on Nigeria tertiary institutions to empower students to become the ultimate champion for environmental justice.

Our vision

We are committed to the defense of the human ecosystem in terms of human rights as well as the promotion of environmentally conscious and responsible youths vanguards, for the youths today are the leaders of tomorrow.

Our Belief

Our belief is anchored on Article 24 of the African charter of human and people’s rights which states that “All people shall have the rights to generally satisfactory environment favourable to their development”. This provision was amplified, when the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992 affirmed in its principle 1, 3 & 4. Thus:

1.    Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.

2.    The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet development and environmental needs of the presents and future generations.

3.    In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.

Our Mission

Based on our belief (s), the Students Environmental Assembly,

Nigeria seeks to:

i.      Mobilized Students for the environment and empower students to become the ultimate champions for environmental justice.

ii.     Work towards achieving an environment befitting of the future leaders of our great country.

iii.    Lobby campaigns and carryout activities, which will help society, improve the understanding and preservation of nature.

iv.   Educate and encourage research among students on the environmental situation of their immediate environment.

v.    Demand for the protection of vital environmental resources which as students we must enjoy when we seize to be students.

vi.     General network on environmental justice.

Our Activities

Workshops, Conferences, Symposia, Debates, Quiz, Competition, Excursion, exchange of visits, Environmental Sanitation works, Tree planting and Advocacy.

Our Thematic Areas

1. Climate Justice and Energy sovereignty: SEAN is calling for urgent action to prevent climate change, the biggest threat facing the planet. We demand strong national emissions reduction programmes and targets, with the industrialized countries that have contributed most to climate change taking the lead. We reject false energy solutions that increase people’s vulnerability to climate change such as oil, coal and gas, nuclear power, agrofuels and large hydropower. We are striving for energy sovereignty-the right of people to choose affordable, renewable and sustainable energy sources through decentralized, democratic and community based campaigns and projects. We are building a global climate justice movement in solidarity with those who are most severely impacted.
2. Oil and Gas: Fuel (oil, gas and coal) and minerals (metallic and non-metallic) are used as energy and raw materials in the production of consumer goods including food, clothes, jewelry, computers, cars and televisions. The global demand for fuels and minerals- driven by an economic model that is focused on the exploitation of natural resources has resulted in widespread economic dislocation, social disintegration and environmental destruction in local communities and ecosystem worldwide. We believe that consumption patterns and lifestyle must be changed, that corporate control over global fuels and minerals must be dismantled, and that destructive extractive operations must be halted. We support the right of peoples to their health, cultures and community resources, and we are united with local communities in their resistance against mining, oil and gas projects around the world.
3. Food and agriculture: Food sovereignty is the right of people to determine and control their own food production systems, and the right to nutritious, ecologically produced and culturally appropriate food. We work with communities, farmers, indigenous people and fisherfolk for an overhaul of current international trade and investment so that agriculture sustains people and not corporations. We also work to safeguard GMO-free agriculture and to ensure that people around the world have the right to choose food that is free from genetically modified organisms. We equally campaign against biopiracy and the patenting of seeds and other life forms, and for the rights of farmers and indigenous peoples to save their own seeds.
4. Forests and biodiversity: The world forests and biodiversity are in trouble. Half of global forests and around one third of total global species have been lost in the past three decades. In turn, the vulnerability of forest-dependent communities is increasing, with their food sovereignty and quality of life seriously impaired. SEAN is calling for a halt to the social and environmental devastation caused by corporate-led mono-culture plantations, “carbon sink” schemes, the industrial logging of tropical forests and the over-consumption of energy, paper and grain-fed livestock.
5. Water for all: Water is becoming dirtier, scarcer and costlier for people in many parts of the world. There are some 1.1 billion people lacking access to safe water, and 2.6 billion more without adequate sanitation. Big dams, pollution, deforestation, industrialized agriculture and mining are all part of the problem. We believe that water is a human right so therefore it should not be treated as an economic good. We oppose the privatization of water and ‘development’ projects that pollute rivers and that use large quantity of water. SEAN strive for water justice by promoting partnerships between public water operators, communities, and trade unions for water management systems, by urging water reduction and reuse, and by restoring rivers and wetlands to more natural states. We also mobilize to vote for new laws and regulations that keep water in public domain.

Membership

I.            Membership is open to all students who gained admission into the institution can be certified to be a member.

II.          Membership is not restricted to course of study, or any programme being run in the school, pertaining that such programme is run by the school.

III.         Member of SEAN is also member of Young Friends of the Earth Nigeria, but not all member of YFOEN can be a member of SEAN

IV.        Graduated students who still have interest in the philosophy of the assembly can continue to with Young Friends of Earth Nigeria.

Questions we ask at our programmes

Below are the questions we ask individuals at a gathering of SEAN before the commencement of our activities to know all present are in agreement with our vision and mission.

i.      Do you believe in the conservation, preservation, protection and sustainability of the environment?

ii.     Do you understand that the Eco-system is human Eco-system?

iii.    Does it occur to you that you have the rights to a protected environment?

iv.   Do you agree that an environmental right is the foundation of every other rights?

v.    Do you know that you can contribute towards the preservation and sustainability of the environment?

If all the answers are to the affirmative, then one can be allowed to be part of Students Environmental Assembly Nigeria gathering where environmental justice is pioneered.