By Kelechi Nwaucha
As the campaign for an end to fossil fuel gains traction across the globe, primary and secondary school children in the city of Port Harcourt, South South Nigeria, have staged a walk in support of a greener earth.
Part of their demands, which they made during the walk on Friday, include an end to use of fossil fuels, call for climate justice and recourse to renewable energy.
Joined by a group of young bikers, members of the Nigerian Red Cross Society and the Nigerian Peace Corps, the children, mostly pre-teens and early teens, walked along the ever-busy Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway, from the GRA intersection to Garrison Bus stop, both within the Rivers State capital.
One of them, Victory Rogers, a student of Community Secondary School Oroworukwo, said “I want government to stop fossil fuel. I’m here to tell government and the oil and gas company, I believe in all of you to make a better and safer community so we can breathe good air and stop people from dying.”
Smith Nwokocha, coordinator, Quest for Growth and Development Foundation, whose organisation provided support for the walk, said the event was “to ‘Stop Fossil Fuel Projects’ in our communities.
“We are holding oil and gas companies accountable and we are asking them to switch to renewable energies. For instance, solar, wind power and the likes. Because those are environmentally friendly.”
Nwokocha said “for so long, oil and gas projects have impacted our communities negatively. We have the black soot situation we face right here in Port Harcourt and Rivers State. It’s terrible. And most of the young people here can even attest to that. Our parents, community leaders, they can attest to that.
“That is something we see and it’s not good for our environment. It’s not even good for our health as well. And this is caused or born out of fossil fuel projects, which are highly done by oil and gas companies.
“So we are calling on them to, instead of investing and promoting fossil fuel projects, they should switch to renewable energy. Not just switch by name, because some of them switch by name, but are still in the act of production of oil and gas and this is not really good for us and for our environment,” he said.
Stressing that polluters must pay, Nwokocha argued that the big polluters, mostly corporate entities from the global North, “put profit before people, and we (global South) are asking them that we contribute less to climate change, and we are saying put people first before profit, not the other way around.
“Profit is fine and if you want to make profit why not do something that is environmentally friendly, that will be healthy for us and even for you, for community people and for everyone so the environment will be safe and clean again. We need clean air. If you continue on fossil fuel projects, we keep getting people that are suffering from asthma, cancer and the likes,” he said.
Nwokocha commended the school children and their teachers for starting early to learn and talk about the danger pollution poses to the environment, while stressing that Quest for Growth and Development Foundation would continue to “conscientize children, youths (especially those engaged in illegal refinery, also known as kpo-fire), the government, oil and gas companies, to switch to something that is environmentally friendly.”
While thanking other groups that supported the walk, such as Beautiful Trouble, Nwokocha said Quest for Growth and Development Foundation is setting up ‘Green Clubs ‘ in schools as well as planting trees to push the message for a greener and safer earth.
Queen Miracle Godwin Ubam, also a student of Community Secondary School Oroworukwo, said “I’ve learned that it is good for us to breathe in good air and that the government should ensure that fossil fuel projects are stopped. I will tell the government that they should ensure that all fossil fuel projects are ended.”
A teacher from CSS Oroworukwo, Deborah Onwuegbule, told our reporter that “We are saying no to fossil fuel, no to bad climate activities, and more actually.
“I actually didn’t know about bad climate change before now. I came here and I was like wow, there is an issue with the climate affecting our resources. When I get back home, I’m letting them know that there’s something about climate change, you know, there’s something about fossil fuel. We should let people know that we should say no to fossil fuel.”
Another teacher, from Model Primary School (MPS) Oromineke, Mrs Chika Eke, said “The walk is okay. Even the students today enjoyed it. We want to let the whole world know what is happening with fossil fuels and climate change. And yes, we’ll hopefully come out next time for another walk or rally.”
