By Ishaya Ibrahim
Eminent Environmentalist, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, has unveiled his latest works, I see the Invisible, a collection of poetry about environmental issues. The event, which held on Wednesday at the Makoko area of Lagos State, was Bassey’s way of showing solidarity with the people of the area.
Makoko community has been battling environmental storms plus harassment from the Lagos state government which manifest in threat of displacement.
Bassey explained the choice of Makoko for his book launch.
He said: “Makoko represents virtually all the environmental challenges that we have in Nigeria, except desertification. We have sea rise, we have water pollution, we have sanitation problem, we have lack of portable water. Everything that should not happen in a community happens here. And not because of the fault of the people but because of crass neglect by the system. And seen that the collection of the poems are mostly about environmental issues, Makoko becomes the primary place that we proposed.”
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On what the book launch in Makoko hopes to achieve, Bassey said: “The book launch brings up the issues that the community is confronting in terms of the displacement that is always hanging in the air.
“We are also hoping that the children who performed during this event (a cultural display by children during the event), will be inspired to become writers in poetry, in drama and to stand up and defend their community and project the positive image of our nation.”
Bassey, who recently bagged the 2024 Wallenberg Medal as the first Nigerian and 5th African to be so awarded, said the Lagos government should be sensitive to the fact that Makoko is symbolic of Nigeria.
He said: “I want to see a government that will invest in Makoko to upgrade the place, provide all the facilities needed for living in dignity and living a life that we all dream of. Makoko should be like the Venice of Nigeria. People go to Venice in Italy to see how the people are living above water. We have a prime example here and we are hoping that our politicians will open their eyes and begin to support this community.”
He called for a legislation against land reclamation because of its negative impact on the environment.
“Nigeria has a coastline of about 845 kilometres. Every community along the coastline faces serious challenges. But Makoko people have built their houses above water and the houses are surviving. We should learn from how they are living. This is adaptation to climate impact.
“Nigerian government some times, when they see environmental problem, the first thing they think of is demolition. Demolition is weakening our people, it is weakening our community. Resilience means supporting the community, building their capacity and building infrastructure that are climate proof. We should stop sand filling or sand dredging. People talk about reclaiming land. You don’t reclaim land, you are destroying the land by destroying the place that soak water when there is a rain fall. So, we should actually have a law that stops the so called reclamation of land across the coastline of Nigeria.”
Betty Abah, a child rights activist and executive director of CEE-HOPE, reviewed the book, which is Bassey’s seventh poem collections and over 20 published works.
Abah saluted Bassey’s ability to navigate several tasks in his activism against the pollution of the environment and other human rights endeavours, and still finding the time to write many books.
She also commended Bassey whose love for Makoko has seen him visited the community 13 times within 10 years. She said despite not being based in Lagos, plus his extremely busy schedule which involves several international travels, the event of the book launch makes it the 13th time he was visiting the community.
The event was graced by the spectrum of Makoko community represented by local chiefs, fisher folks, women and children. The majority of the complaints of the people was the interference with their environment in the form of dredging and sand filling by the Lagos government which has affected their fishing trade.
One of the community leaders, Elder Claudius Akintimehin, thanked Bassey for his consistent support to Makoko community, praying for God’s blessing.