The plight of Nigeria's ecological system
Good day fellow steemians
Today i want to talk about the basic ecological challenges facing Nigeria as a country and as a power house in Africa.
Nigeria is situated on the west coast of Africa, lies on latitudes 4° and 14° north of the Equator and latitudes 3° and 15° on the east of the Greenwich Meridian. Shares boundaries with The Republics of Benin and Niger in the west, Cameroon in the East, Niger and Chad in the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the South.
Major Ecozone's of Nigeria
- The Forest zone (tropical rain forest, mangrove and fresh water swamp)
- The savannah zone ( guinea , sudan and sahel)
image source
The southern region consist mainly of the forest zones because of the large amount of precipitation received in the south while the northern ecological zone is basically savannah vegetation because precipitation reduces as you move upward from the equator.
image source
image source
The Nigeria size and number of species in the ecological system are dwindling, due to some pertinent threat which are listed below; - Climate change: The increase in global temperature have change climatic pattern across the globe with Nigeria not being an exception, the north of Nigeria seems to be the most affected because of the decrease of annual precipitation which in turn lead to the loss of vegetal cover.
- Indiscriminate logging: loggers go into the forest with the aim of cutting down trees without replanting , this has led to the dwindling number of forest tree species with Nigeria losing most of its economically viable trees to poachers.
- Misappropriation of funds: the government recently diverted $1bn meant to be use for combating ecological problems to be used for fighting insurgency and other security challenges, leaving the already vulnerable environment expose to more destruction.
- Illiteracy : A sizable proportion of Nigeria's citizen are uneducated especially those in the rural areas, this have made them unaware of how their activities (logging, burning and tilling) negatively affecting the environment
Conclusion
The global community have to remind Nigeria of the role which an ecological system play and the importance of always keeping it healthy. The sensitization of the rural populace is also needed.
reference
NNPC
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I agree with the overall importance that a stable ecological systems plays for all of us on this planet. However, how do you see the argument of environmental protection vs economic growth in Nigeria or in other countries on the African continent?
African countries want to achieve economic growth at the expense of depleting the natural environmental resources without thinking of adverse effect it will have on their countries.
Exactly. And how is your opinion on that? Should these countries delay their economic growth at the expense of their own population?
I am asking because I consider it to be a serious question. Some countries on this planet have developed very well in the past 50-100 years also by using natural rescources from others who have had a much weaker economic performance. Why should these countries (from an economical and social perspective) who still need to catch up now give priorities to environmental protection instead of economic growth?
You mentioned the lack of education in Nigeria and of course this is a problem in many other countries as well. It takes about 30-50 years to seriously improve the literacy rate of these societies in case they would start today. So how could a government convince these people today (2018) that environmental protection is more important than their own current small income that pays at least food, maybe rent but not even covers health care and other basic needs?
developing economies (especially in Africa) have been exploiting their resources, but the proceeds generated from these resources is either squandered or looted.
The steps taken by the leaders of these countries in embracing climate change policy and decree is to deceive world super powers into giving them Relief funds which aren't used for the purpose they serve.
I think this is a quite realistic view on that point. And unfortunately nothing too new. There has been a lot of abuse of these transfers over the past decades already.
Very informative post. I love it, thank you for sharing. Very clear, easy read and information was educational. I appreciate this post, from your fellow steemitblogger.
thanks.
Your'e welcome.
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The @OriginalWorks bot has upvoted and checked this post!
Some similarity seems to be present here:
http://nnpcgroup.com/NNPCBusiness/BusinessInformation/OilGasinNigeria/NigeriaProfile.aspx
This is an early BETA version. If you cited this source, then ignore this message! Reply if you feel this is an error.
@originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has upvoted and checked this post!
Some similarity seems to be present here:
http://nnpcgroup.com/NNPCBusiness/BusinessInformation/OilGasinNigeria/NigeriaProfile.aspx
It appears the author has cited this source in their work. Great Job!