Regional Centre of Expertise, RCE Ogun, Covenant University, has sounded the alarm on the need for active participation at all level to give attention to the recurrent issue of climate change as it affects the country, Africa and the world.
Its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abiodun H. Adebayo, said this when he declared the 2023 Local Conference of Youths (LCOY) Nigeria open at the university’s Centre for Research, Innovation and Discovery (CUCRID).
Prof. Adebayo said green skill is a necessity for tackling the issues of climate change and benefiting from the green economy, stressing that the Covenant University was encouraged to play host to the LCOY, which is the official youth constituency of the Conference of Parties (COP).
The theme of the LCOY was Building Resilient Systems for a Climate Smart Economy in Nigeria and was supported by Nestle, Dufil, Recycle Alliance, MTN and CHI Limited.
According to him, the focus of the conference is to stimulate interest and build the foundation for green skills development among youths, particularly those around the university’s host community here in Ota.
“Knowledge and skills are central to tackling climate change, as such we must begin to think how we can use our indigenous knowledge to solve the problems of climate change,” he stated.
Prof. Adebayo said hosting LCOY in the university at the heels of the QS Africa Summit is an international validation of Covenant University’s commitment to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially as it pertains to the issue of climate change.
He asked participants to interact and network, while taking advantage of the rich and robust experience of the speakers to get clarification on issues relating to the conference theme to enhance individual and institutional knowledge on the subject of climate change.
Chair, Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Ogun, Covenant University, Dr. Patience Tunji-Olayeni, said the subject of climate change is not one to anticipate, but one that the realities is here with us.
Dr. Tunji-Olayeni noted that the only way to manage the challenge is to reduce its effect and also to learn how to adapt to it with young people being at the forefront of the discourse because they have a lot of energy and passion to run with any assignment and also because they constitute an enduring source of indigenous capacity for tackling climate change impact.
“It is important for us to highlight the word indigenous capacity because it will be almost impossible to import capacity from another country to solve our climate change issues,” she stated.
According to her, nations are trying to solve their own climate change problems. Countries do not have enough manpower for this. Financially endowed countries are attracting nationals of other countries to help solve their problems. We need to look inward as a people and think of how we can equip our people with the skills they need to tackle climate change.
She said the issue of climate change is multidimensional that impacts several sectors of the economy and society, as such the need to start laying the foundational framework for evolving green skills in the area of agriculture, renewable energy, arts and community resilience.
Dr. Tunji-Olayeni said it is not all doom and gloom on the subject of climate crisis, as it is still within the capacity of humans to manage it. “We need to take away from this conference a possibility mentality. The challenges of climate change can be very daunting but it is possible to manage it,” she enthused.
Delivering a goodwill message at the opening, the Director, Ota Economic Summit Group, Mrs. Olajumoke Odeyemi, applauded participants both on the virtual and physical space of the conference for showing interest in being part of the solution by subscribing to attend the conference.
Mrs. Odeyemi said in a world that many young people simply get distracted with things of no value, the interest displayed by young participants is one that gives hope to the nation and continent.
She tasked the youths present to focus on all the training and presentations as knowledge that cannot be taken away from them is being imparted, noting that the forum was another opportunity to trigger the birth of a better Nigeria.
The highlights of the three-day event were hands-on workshop sessions, work group, introduction to renewable energy, community volunteering and arts, with experienced and dynamic speakers from UNESCO, YOUNGO, UN, Covenant University, Soiless Lab, Creative Fingers Art Nexus and many others forming the base of the training sessions.
