ACW-UA PRESS RELEASE

 ACW-UA PRESS RELEASE

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2023 ENVIRONMENTAL WALK 

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Reported by ACW-UA Press Correspondents

Amra Onize Salihu - Head of Press

Abah Goodness Ojonoma - President

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On August 17, 2023, the Association of Creative Writers covered an event hosted by the University of Abuja Law Clinic alongside the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Science, featuring interviews with lecturers from various departments. The event aimed to raise awareness about environmental hazards and inspire action to protect the environment.

During the interviews, the lecturers discussed a range of topics related to environmental hazards, such as air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution. They emphasized the importance of taking action to reduce these hazards and highlighted the need for increased awareness and education on the topic.

Doctor. Tanimo, a Resident Doctor at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital described environmental health:

"Okay, I'll start by describing environmental health. Environmental health is a field in public health that deals with monitoring or evaluating the effects of the environment on the population because the impact of our environment on the health of an individual cannot be overemphasized.

Most of the diseases that happen to us as humans occur because of environmental hazards. So we must monitor and take care of our environment because a healthy environment makes a healthy population."

In prescribing solutions to environmental hazards, Dr. Etubi-Ibrahim, Senior Registrar at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital said: 

"It is very important to know what causes them first. If you know how important it is, then you will be motivated to go out and carry out those activities or those things that would help to mitigate them.

The effects of having a dirty environment cannot be over-emphasized. It has a whole diverse effect on our health, starting from vector-borne diseases. When we litter the place and we do not take care of our drainages, when we leave our pots and things open, it's a breeding site for vectors. Malaria, which is one of the biggest vector-borne diseases, is caused by issues that have to do with our environment. 

Then apart from that, when we litter, we also contaminate the air; the burning, and cigarette smoking, are ways we also affect the environment. Apart from the individual who is smoking, there's a passive smoke that gets into the air and other people around inhale it. We know that cigarette has been implicated in many lung diseases, chronic obstructive lung diseases and also asthma, and other things.

Regarding water pollution, I've talked about cholera and so on, so we could actually contaminate water by our activities, and that could affect our health adversely. Even the soil, our activities can affect the soil. 

We introduce chemicals, we introduce biological agents that will also get into the soil and affect it. We know that the food we grow comes from the soil. So either way, our activities get back at us. It's a vicious circle. We destroy or degrade the environment, in turn, we also destroy ourselves. If we conserve the environment, in turn, we are also conserving our health. 

That's it. There are various activities we could do. So we need to dispose of our refuse properly. We should not be found littering or throwing things carelessly. We should properly dispose. There are dustbins around. We should go close to them and drop our refuse properly. 

And also for activities, when we have refuse in the hostels and all that, we should properly dispose of them. The sanitary pads should be well-tied and disposed of properly. Also, our sewage, that is fecal matter. We should not practice, we should never practice open defecation. 

We should make sure our toilets are clean so that we feel secure using them and we should use them properly and keep them in such a way that the next person can feel secure to also use them. 

Also, other things you would look at are the way we take care of things like burning. And then throwing plastics around. It's said that Nigeria contributes a large percentage of sea plastic. So there is a lot of plastic that we throw around. This in turn degrades our environment and affects us.  Another thing is that we should also create awareness, we should tell others about it. 

These are parts that will also help us to keep our environment clean. Thank you so much."

Dr. Nasiru Mukhtar, the Staff Adviser, Faculty of Law, University of Abuja mentioned  some challenges he feels the university community would face in trying to maintain a healthy school environmen:

"What is  really important is the people's mindset. That is why we are all  out here to show people the importance of the environment and how there is a deep connection between the University body and the environment. I also believe the University should help the students  know about the environment and how to conserve it."

After the interviews, there was a general sensitization on environmental issues. The participants were encouraged to take individual steps to reduce their environmental footprint, such as by reducing their use of single-use plastics and by recycling. The Association of Creative Writers hopes to continue to raise awareness about environmental issues and inspire action in the future.

The Association of Creative Writers would like to thank the University of Abuja Law Clinic for hosting this event, and for giving us the opportunity to cover it. We look forward to working with the Law Clinic and other organizations on future initiatives to protect the environment.