Solving Nigeria's environmental crisis

     

According to the great American Statesman, Benjamin Franklin,"it had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them, they went out and happen to things''. So can it be witnessed in modern Nigeria were crises and conflict have been the order of the day. Nigeria is a country with different tribes and ethnics groups and so her trouble are much as the conflicts. After a series thoughts and reflection on career paths, I choose to be a gender activist and an environmentalist. The crises currently faced in the country can be viewed from eco-feminist perspective. Hence, a well need eco-feminist plan to savage the country from its current problems

     After the independence of Nigeria in 1960, she was not faced with the myriad of challenges, it faces today. This is due to changing world order. The Nigeria civil war of 1967 brought her into deep eco-feminist crisis due to personal civil war and political instability. This led to the destruction of arable farmlands, momentarily stoppage of farming in the eastern part of the country and the ''Agbekoya'' crisis in the southwest. This was the beginning of Nigeria's environmental changes and food security problems. Prior to the military coup, Nigeria have heavily dependent on agriculture as its mainstay of the economy. Hence, the civil war brought about an environmental and food, security challenges that unending till date. Also, the civil war brought about untold hardship to women and children as they were the ''goods'' of war.

The unending drilling of crude oil in large quantities brought about increased environment degradation in the South South and communal disharmony. This led to destruction of many arable farmland and led to violence in demand for good environmental policy. The environmental challenges led to the outbreak of militancy in the Niger delta and subsequent military interventions. The country was in mini-civil war as some part of the country was angered and a war with '' the bloody civil war heightened a gender issue as women and girls are mostly affected, like a proverb says ‘‘when two lions fight, it is the grass that suffer’’ and girls were the victim of the crisis and as such needs to be protected.

The outbreak of Boko Haram (Western education is sinful) and the present fulani herdman can be viewed from a eco-feminist angle. The boko haram follows old tribal traditions of not obeying women and subdue them in order to derive them of their rights. The environmental crisis within the north east is much and he deepest in the country. The north east is the hottest part of Nigeria and a place with high rate of desert encroachment (due to centuries of adverse climate change)  this have reduced agricultural productivity in the area. Long before the outbreak of the boko haram the north east have been an area of vast agricultural grazing land  some centuries ago. Now the area is a ''near desert'' due to the shrinking of the Chad-Basin river .The crisis in Nigeria concerning poverty, boko haram, Fulani herdsmen and Niger delta crisis must be solved from a geometric geographical eco-feminist angle that is policy based favoring the environment, women and girls. This can be done by ;

a) Disarmament of all willing terrorist in the country. This policy was adopted by the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua government and led to destruction of weapons of mass destruction. This dismantlement should involve peace activists and environmental policy makers that will facilitate easy disarmament 

b)Signing of the Paris agreement on climate change and full implementation of the arrange for a climate changed world.
by Oladosu Adenike (twitter Oladosu Adenike)