Oyo State Governor, ’Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday, launched a campaign to plant 500,000 trees by 2023 in a measure to optimise environmental quality and human health for the current and future generations.
The governor, launching the campaign in commemoration of his second year in office, said that if the planting of trees is well-promoted, it will have an impact on the kind of environment that will be handed over to the upcoming generation. He maintained that his administration is set to plant 500,000 trees within the 24 months remaining in its first tenure.
“It is my pleasure to launch the tree planting campaign in Oyo State as part of the activities marking our second year in office.
“We are very close to the Premier Hotel, I think it is right behind us. We have UCH close to us and the road that takes you to the top of the Hill out there. I grew up less than two kilometres from this place, in Yemetu, Adeoyo, Isale Alfa axis and I remember that in those days, you had a colony of the bat coming from that area, including Igbo Agala.
“We sit down in the evenings and you see them doing their migration. If you woke up very early in the morning, you would see them returning to the forest reserve out there, but we have lost all of that now.
He noted that the construction of housing estates has led to clearing out the vegetation which has now made the weather system unpredictable and this he said, indicate how we have mismanaged our environment.
“Unfortunately, all of us here and even the people in the heart of the city, we share the environment. It does not know a big man or a small person. So, this effort is not elitist at all. It is an effort that, if well-promoted, will definitely have an impact on the kind of environment we are going to hand over to the upcoming generation.
He said the state can set a target of 500,000 trees within the remaining tenure of this administration which could be broken down monthly for achievement in the next 24 months.
The governor later made a symbolic planting of the Cedera Odorata tree, after which other executive members performed the same exercise.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Abdullateef Oyeleke said that the tree-planting campaign is one of the numerous initiatives of this administration towards having a clean and green environment, adding that the environmental economic and social benefit of nature can lead to better vegetation management.
According to him, “we cannot keep on ignoring climate change, which is the most significant material risk to our future. As we increase the effort to rid the state of waste, all hands must be on deck to improve the environment by adorning it with flowers, shrubs, plants, and trees.
Trees, he said provide numerous economic and ecosystem services that produce benefits to communities and welfare of the citizens, noting that the importance of tree planting cannot be overemphasised, which include but are not limited to provisions of shade, enhancement of ecosystem, reduction in the effect of carbon emissions, mitigation of flood and provides employment.
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