KafComE wraps up Arts for Environmental Awareness campaign, sensitises students on dangers of plastic pollution
An environmentally focused non governmental organisation, KafComE, has concluded its Global Greengrants Fund (GGF)-supported Arts For Environmental Community Awareness Campaign at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Ogba, Lagos.
The event, which held recently, also marked the Ecozone Club Environmental Reporters Award, where organisers used arts, music, film screenings, stage plays, and environmental facilitators to sensitise students on the dangers of plastic pollution and the benefits of recycling.
Among the honourees was Amb. Willie Workman Oga, who received the Award of Excellence in Environmental Leadership from the Ecozone Environmental Student Reporting Club. The award was presented by the club’s founding lecturer, Anthony Oligbo, alongside facilitator Dr. Alexander Akhigbe and other staff members.
The broader Arts For Community Environmental Awareness Campaign also extended to the Ifako-Oworonshoki and Monkey Village communities, as well as several secondary schools across Lagos, promoting environmental education and action programmes toward a plastic-free environment.
KafComE uses creative tools such as arts, film, music, poetry, dance drama, and hands-on activities to engage women and youths on climate change issues affecting their communities. Key facilitators at the event included KafComE founder Amb. Willie Workman Oga; educationist and author Prof. Nkechi Onyeka Jaivbo-Ojigbo; climate activist and physiotherapy expert Abirero Idogho Ohwobete; and Dr. Alexander Akhigbe.
According to the founder, the campaign centred on three thematic areas: the 3Rs of waste management — reduce, reuse, and recycle; plastic pollution, focusing on how plastic waste harms the environment, waterways, and health, alongside its recycling benefits; and tree planting, which included a practical planting session highlighting the role of trees in clean air, shade, and climate resilience.
Students were also taught simple, safe methods of turning plastic bottles into useful items such as planters, pencil holders, and small income-generating crafts, as part of efforts to promote self-sustainability through recycling.
In each community and school visited, the campaign inaugurated a Community Environmental Youth Vanguard to monitor and collate PET bottles and encourage a plastic-pollution-free environment. The founder said the programme aligns with Nigeria’s environmental education goals and would equip students and communities with practical knowledge to protect the environment at home and within their communities.
He commended the Global Greengrants Fund for its support of the campaign, noting its role in shifting public attitudes toward plastic pollution and recycling in Nigeria.
