As part of effort to mitigate the negative impacts of environmental pollution and climate change, the management of NNPC Limited Foundation Ltd/Gte on Wednesday planted seventy trees at the Federal Government Girls’ College (FGGC), Benin City to mark 2024 World Environment Day.
BusinessDay reports that this year’s celebration has as it theme, “Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience”.
Speaking after the planting of the trees, Emmanuella Arukwe, the Managing Director, NNPC Limited Foundation, said that the Foundation’s mission is to support environmental sustainability through impactful initiatives such as reforestation, conservation, and education.
Arukwe represented by Goodnews Willie, deputy manager, education and health care programme of the Foundation, said the occasion underscored the critical need to address land degradation, combat desertification, and enhance resilience to drought for present and future generations.
The managing director, who said sustainability in tree planting ensures long term benefits, noted that the NNPC Foundation is committed to continuous monitoring of the plants at all locations to restore degraded lands, build resilience against drought and improve livelihood.
She opined that the World Environment Day is a global platform to raise awareness about environmental issues and foster action for sustainable development.
According to him, as a recently transited private company, NNPC Ltd is positioned to align with global best practice in the Energy industry and is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
“NNPC Foundation was established as the social arm of NNPC Ltd to be the connect between the stakeholders, who are the over 200 million Nigerians, and the Company, through the execution of impactful CSR initiatives.
“One of the key focus areas of NNPC Foundation is to undertake impactful initiatives on Environment, and in commemoration of the 2024 World Environment Day (WED).
“We have lined up strategic programmes such as tree Planting campaigns in schools and quizzes competitions to sensitize the citizenry on environmental preservation.
“The UN Convention, about 40% of the world’s land is degraded and is directly impacting half of the global population, threatening economies and mean
Arukwe, stated that the focus of the Foundation is to engage with students who are members of environmental clubs in secondary schools nationwide, hence the choice of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Benin City.
She explained that the purpose of engaging secondary school students was to educate and empower the students individually to become champions of environmental preservation.
She, however, called for the collective affirmative action to take responsibility for the survival of our immediate environment that would bring about positive spiral effects to the global habitat.
Earlier, Aghedo Osariemen, the Director Principal of FGGC, Benin City, commended the management of NNPC Ltd/Gte for chosen the school as one of its locations for the trees planting in the country.
“We are glad that as part of the company corporate social responsibility, you are committed in embarking on programmes that would protect the environment by the planting of trees in our school.
“This will help in actualizing the theme of this year World Environment Day of Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience as well as SDGs 15 goals which is protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems”, she stated.
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