TIGed

Switch headers Switch to TIGweb.org

Are you an TIG Member?
Click here to switch to TIGweb.org

HomeHomeExpress YourselfPanoramaGlobal Climate Change: The Imminent Disaster in my Country
Panorama
a TakingITGlobal online publication
Search



(Advanced Search)

Panorama Home
Issue Archive
Current Issue
Next Issue
Featured Writer
TIG Magazine
Writings
Opinion
Interview
Short Story
Poetry
Experiences
My Content
Edit
Submit
Guidelines
Global Climate Change: The Imminent Disaster in my Country Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Luke Chike Igweobi, United States Nov 1, 2005
Environment , Climate Change   Opinions

  

Hey you guys, I need your help! By this I mean that I would like to ask you to please assist me mobilize International Youth that may be interested in helping prevent an ‘imminent’ disaster in Nigeria, my country. Other Nigerian involved with TakingITGlobal will certainly testify to this issue, except for those nonchalant and less observant.

While I am writing you this email the Atlantic Ocean is splashing and spilling over the Ahmadu Bello Xpress Way. It is flooding everywhere else on Victoria Island, the busiest and the most significant business district in Lagos, Nigeria’s and more specifically Africa’s commercial nerve center. You may be aware that the United Nations Population Agency recently described Lekki Pennisula (which is directly linked to the Victoria Island) as the fastest developing corridor on earth. Nevertheless, I think this spells out the ‘about to come’ greatest disaster on earth.

My worry is that the government, that should be much more concerned about this issue, is nonchalant, insensitive and reluctant to act for reasons that I do not know. I don’t know why people have to wait until disaster comes before they act, especially in country without any meaningful emergency plan. The big people are distracted with contesting for political power. Today the top officials of the Ministry of Environment are hosting dinners in Abuja Sheraton and sharing petroleum resources money while the members of Nigerian Conservation Fund & Environmental Society, old business Mongols, owners of empires and conglomerates are chilling out in the boat club drinking wine and sharing Ecological Fund on the same island that is just about to sink.

You may be wondering why I am writing to you this way. You might also be wondering why you should care about what’s happening in a country that is far, far away from yours. It is of the essence of TakingITGlobal. I am very sad and worried. It helps to know that I have a group of young foreigners who will help me shout this shout because my voice alone may not be heard. I live in an impoverished country, where most youths are roaming the streets in search of food, money and are uninformed and uninterested in the ‘Climate Change Issue’.

When I was a little boy my Dad used to take me for walks on the Bar Beach. I remember walking as much as two kilometers before reaching the brink of the ocean. Now, a few years later, that same Atlantic Ocean is splashing on the highway. In fact, if you are on the Lekki Xpress Way, you can now see the Atlantic Ocean as high as a mountain, ready to overflow the so-called ‘fastest developing neighborhood on earth’.

I know that there are a few members at TakingITGlobal and elsewhere who might be interested in this issue and who may be willing to join me in convincing our local government officials to act fast. I can moderate a group, if that’s what you guys prefer, to seek ideas from ‘better-informed’ international youth who will act as motivators and as a source of inspiration. If saving lives and prosperities on the Victoria Island is all I am able to champion in my lifetime I will die a happy man. This rise in Sea/Ocean level is connected to the global climate change.





 1     


Tags

You must be logged in to add tags.

Writer Profile
Luke Chike Igweobi


This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.