This Large Erosion Was Already Swallowing Houses at This Village. Here’s What I Did

LEADING CHANGE FOR CLIMATE ACTION

In October 2019, i had the honour of being invited by the Minister of Environment, State to accompany her to conduct a site visitation at some erosion sites. We visited up to four erosion sites and the purpose of the visitation was to examine the environmental damages caused by the erosions, examine what the state government is doing and determine the support level that the federal ministry can provide to curtail the impact. 

In one of the erosion sites we visited was right within a community and has already swallowed some houses and forced people to move away from the area. The state’s commissioner for environment began to explain about the erosion to the Federal Minister. Right as he was speaking, i saw there and then what could be don to curtail the issue especially in the very site we all were at.

This site as i said is within the community and already overtaking most of the small houses. The government invoted the minister for environment to come and look at the problem and provide money.

So i spoke up and said this:

‘Excuse me ma’am and Sir’ I have an idea for how this can be stopped.

As soon as i spoke up, the minister said to the state government’s leaders who were all there.

‘Oh this is Glory, she’s one of my young climate advocates and i have asked her to come here’.

So i continued.

‘The solution to this case is rather simple. All it would take is one weekend, gather all the community able bodied youths, get up to empty bags of cement, fill them with sand and concrete, and begin to load them on the erosion sites.” 

I mentioned that this is a quick way to curtail the impact in the meantime whilst waiting for the money from the government. Its always better to take action and reduce the damage instead of just waiting and waiting.

The minister commended me for my comment and the state leaders agreed that it was a good idea and that they would work on it that next weekend.

Taking action to combat climate change requires thinking about the little things you can do in the meAntime. Would you be like the youths who want to wait for big funding before they get anything done? Can you organize a campaign around that issue? Can you visit your local government chairman and hold that conversation, can you do a social media fundraiser to fix that issue, can you gather community youths to rebuild that damage, can you teach students in school about how to lead that change?

What can you do with what you have? Taking that action to do it helps you build what i call traction.  I always speak about traction. Traction represents that you have some experience. Now traction helps you land that funding faster because most donors want to see that you are already doing something in the area and not a green fish.

Today, that environment, climate or energy problem you see in your community, think about it carefully, what action can you take to solve it?
Please let me know these problems in the comment or your proposed solution to them. I can guide you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Glory’s life goal is to be a positive part of people’s lives and make good impact. She’s passionate about economic development of Nigeria and work in the field of renewable energy and environmental sustainability to promote Nigeria’s economic growth through job creation and education. She is the founder of Climate Smart Nigeria which promotes Climate Change Education in Nigerian institutions and provide capacity building on renewable energy technologies. Recently she established the Renewable Energy Technology Training Institute (RETTI) where she is also the Chief Instructor. The institute grooms the next generation of efficient installers and entrepreneurs with a focus on women who will serve as a competent workforce for the renewable energy industry and provide solutions to Nigeria’s prevalent energy problems as entrepreneurs.

Under Glory’s leadership, RETTI recently lauched the RETTI Virtual University and introduced their eight short ONLINE COURSES to assist people wanting to get into the energy sector especially renewables.

Glory recently received the Florence School of Regulation’s – Lights on #Women #Award as one of four women out of 150 women from 64 countries. This award will granted her a featured interview with the FSR and a scholarship to study the course – #Electric #Vehicles (EV); a Power Sector Perspective and expand her knowledge about how EVs, #Charging #Infrastructure and the #V2X (Vehicle to Everything) concept will change the face of electricity and transportation.

Glory has published four books to promote the knowledge of climate change and renewable energy; Something is happening; Our world is changing; Understanding the Basics of Climate Change– for Secondary Schools – The Concept and Science of Climate Change – for the general adult public, A short thriller story – The Year Ran Mad – which depicts the impact of climate change on livelihood for Primary schools and The Girl who saw tomorrow, a short novel for secondary school – http://bit.ly/rettiM.

Glory can consult for African government entities about regulation for Electric Vehicles.

MORE ABOUT GLORY

She is the recipient of several local and international awards and recognitions which include (a) Nigerian Star from the US Mission in Nigeria (2018), (b) The Nigerian Energy Champion Prize from the Nigerian Energy Awards (2015), (c) President Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship Award (2015), (d) The Young Energy Professional of the Year Award by Nigeria Energy Awards (2018), (e) A Foremost Woman in Renewable Energy award recipient (2017); (f) Environmental Award of Excellence, Environmental Community Development group (2014) In April 2019, Glory was selected
as one of 15 African female business leaders to attend United States Government’s launch of  the OPIC 2X
Africa and meet with advisor to President of USA – Ms. Ivanka Trump and the Ethiopian President – Ms Sahle-Work Zewde.

In the course of her work she has met and shared platforms with a number high profile personalities and leaders at the national and international levels, including President Barack Obama, US Senator Chris Coons, Advisor to President Trump, Ms Ivanka Trump, Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware USA, Ethiopian President – Ms Sahle-Work Zewde, The USG Undersecretary for Energy – Mr Mark Menezes and former Vice President Ebitu Ukiwe of Nigeria.

She is a consultant for Nigeria’s largest renewable energy event, the Nigerian Alternative Energy Expo. She was a former Vice President of the Mandela Washington Fellowship Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN), and is currently an active member. She’s an alumna of Abia State University, Nigeria, The Lagos Business School, University of Delaware, USA, European Energy Institute and The Florence School of Regulation, Italy.