By: Chidiebere Akalawu.
Nnamdi Azikiwe University’s Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof Joseph Ikechebelu in what looks like his first official outing in office, joined the Faculty of Environmental Sciences in tree planting round the University as the Faculty celebrates World Environmental Day with the rest of the World.
In his address, Prof Ikechebelu charged the Faculty to take up the task of tree planting round the University as its personal task as a faculty of Environmental Sciences whose primary duty is to look after the environment and make it fit for habitation.
In his speech Prof Chinedu Okoye, Dean faculty of Environmental Sciences Unizik, informed that World Environmental day is a United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment from degradation. He therefore called for all hands to be on deck in restoring our land as a major resource in our existence.
In a similar development, the guest lecturer, Prof Obangha Ajake, Dean faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Calabar in his lecture opined that man is part of nature rather than its slave or master. He described desertification as the most serious environmental problem in the world today.
Prof Ajake in his submission, maintained that human activities and socio-economic factors have contributed to the wide spread of land degradation, loss of biodiversity and declining ecosystem services.