By Uzor Odigbo
The advent of Green Project impact on the environment in some states, university campuses and communities in Nigeria has lent credence to how cleaner the environment would look if more effort is applied by Nigerians.
Speaking to the media recently the Chief Executive Officer of SWEEP Foundation Ambassador Philip Obuesi informed that “The Green Campus Project presently stands as a beacon of environmental Consciousness, responsibility, and community engagement across participating
University campuses”.
He insisted that “We remain committed to expanding our
reach and making lasting contributions to the sustainability landscape across
Nigerian campuses.”
Obuesi added: “The Project has not only gained traction but is also flourishing and garnering substantial interests and accolades from the students, University authorities and Campus community members alike.”
Owing to importance of Cleaner environment, overwhelming response and feedback have prompted increased collections even beyond our target/immediate campus communities indicating growing awareness and participation in sustainable practices.
The SWEEP Foundation CEO however said, despite initial delays occasioned by several challenges including the prolonged federal
elections in Nigeria, perennial shutdown of University campuses due to strike actions and bottlenecks faced while obtaining official approvals from the University
authorities lots of grounds would have been covered by now.
According to him, One noticeable challenge is the regular interruption of academic activities within
campuses for one reason or the other.
However, the project implementing partners
are finding creative ways to navigate these, including collections from around
communities within or around campuses, thus ensuring the uninterrupted flow of our
collection activities.
Through the increased activities of “The Campus Ambassadors” across participating University campuses, implementing partners are recording an increased influx of calls from students and households, and this in our estimation demonstrates the project’s positive influence on the different campus communities.
Across the campuses, members of “The Campus Ambassadors” host campus clean ups, excursions and tours, training and awareness campaigns, etc to draw the attention of their different communities and promote sustainable lifestyles.
The eagerness with which students and other members of campus communities are
subscribing to the project is a testament to the project’s success in fostering
environmental conciousness.
“While we acknowledge and navigate the challenges of this pilot project, we also
celebrate our successes, the future looks promising for the Green Campus Project, especially considering its sustainability and capacity to be replicated. We are happy to announce that today with over 515,671.3 PET already recovered
under the Green Campus Project, we have surpassed our target and still counting,” Obuesi said.
