SEAN set for Environmental Action Summit

As part of efforts to create environmental consciousness among young people in institutions of higher learning in Nigeria, the Students Environmental Assembly Nigeria (SEAN), is set to organize a National Environmental Summit which is aimed at empowering young people to become the ultimate champions for environmental justice.

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In a statement by Ubrei-Joe M. Mariere, officer coordinating the group for Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), the summit which has as its theme “movement building and youth action for environmental defense” will hold 19-21 March, 2014 the Delta State University, Abraka. This summit is supported by ERA/FoEN.

SEAN is a student oriented environmental organization with its primary focus on Nigeria tertiary institutions to empower students to become the ultimate champions for environmental justice. The organisation seeks to mobilize students for the environment and empower them to become the ultimate champions for environmental justice, work towards achieving an environment befitting of the future leaders of our great country, generate campaigns and carryout activities which will help the society as well as improve the understanding and preservation of nature, educate and encourage research among students on the environmental situation of their immediate environment and demand for the protection of vital environmental resources which students must enjoy when they cease to be students.

SEAN currently exists in 19 higher institutions in Nigeria. They are Delta State University, University of Benin, University of Lagos, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Calabar, and Cross River State University of Science and Technology. Others are School of Health Technology Calabar, River State University of Science and Technology, University of Jos, College of Education Zuba, Abia State University, Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun, and Federal University of Technology Minna. There are chapters also at the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Auchi Polytechnic, Niger Delta University, Delta State Polytechnic Ozoro, Delta State Polytechnic Ogwasi-Uku and University of Port-Harcourt. Participants will come from the 19 chapters.

Ubrei-Joe said that the summit is geared towards students (youths) mobilization in institutions of higher learning with the aim of strengthening the SEAN platform, to train selected student leaders from the various institutions of higher learning on the critical environmental issues in Nigeria especially on climate change, and also for the trained ones to step down those trainings in their various campuses who will empower other youths to understand the nature of environmental degradation on their environment and prepare them to champion the cause for a better environment. He also stated that the activities to be embarked in this summit include two days Workshops and Field trip to oil spill sites in the Niger Delta.

Some of the speakers participating at the National Environmental Summit include: The Head of Legal Resources Department of Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Barr. Chima Williams, Prof. D.F Tom, Dean Faculty of Law Delta State University Oleh Campus, Prof. (Mrs) O.M Agbogidi, Head of department of Botany Delta State University, Abraka, Mr. Babawale Obayanju, Project Officer Media Relation of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Dr. Tony Akpoborie, Dr. Elo Ibagere, Dr (Mrs) Agaire, Mr. Richard Benin and lots more.

The group believes that the youths have both special concerns and special responsibilities in relation to the environment. A number of environmental risks and hazards disproportionately affect young people, who have to live for an extended period with the deteriorating environment bequeathed to them by earlier generations. The problem of environmental degradation in Nigeria has risen as a result of lack of discipline on the path of the extractive industries such as SHELL,ENI/AGIP, EXXON MOBIL, and CHEVRON etc. The Nigerian environment is therefore threatened largely by man-made disasters. Many years ago, an average young man would engage on any available practice to eke out a living, without giving a thought to the impacts of his actions on both the environment and the climate. In this summit young people will be empowered to engage in new forms of action and activism that will generate effective responses to ecological challenges. Trainings and capacity building workshops have helped us in awareness creation in institutions of higher learning and communities where youth are important instruments and actors for development.