Delayed rain: Kwara residents lament heat wave

Residents of Ilorin metropolis, Kwara state capital, have lamented the effect of climate change on the late rainfall for the year in parts of the state.

The people, who said that heat had caused discomfort and health risks among them, said that the situation was not helped by the irregular power supply by the power distribution company, which they said made people sweat all night.

One of the people interviewed, a farmer, Moses Ojo, said that the development may affect agricultural cultivation and food production for the year.

“Despite taking a bath before sleeping every night, I found myself sweating profusely at night.

Dr. Saudat Salah Abdulbaki spoke to a journalist about the role of the media in climate awareness. At the ongoing

Speaking at a climate journalism workshop organised by a private radio station in Ilorin, Sobi FM Chapel of the NUJ, in conjunction with an NGO, the Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative, on Thursday, an expert in climate change, Mr. Rasheed Yusuf, and an associate professor of Mass Communication, University of Ilorin, Dr. Saudat Abdulbaqi, said that the effect of climate change is increasing heat.

They lamented that Nigerians lack a culture of tree planting, advising people to plant and replant trees to protect the environment.

Dr. Abdulbaqi said that climate change has an impact on aquatic and human lives, adding that food security is being affected by the high cost of scarce proteins like fish and cattle due to poor yields.

She also said that forests and trees had disappeared because the space had been used for habitation to build houses.

“The ozone layer is opened due to failure to plant trees, and we usually cut our trees down without replanting. This would cause climate change, invariably,” Yusuf said.

The climate change expert also talked about industrial pollution causing harm to humans as well as bush burning destroying the environment and climate.

The people called on journalists to help in enlightenment and encourage due process, as well as bring issues on the consequences of abuse of climate change to the fore in media reportage.

They also enjoined journalists to drive the solution, inform, tell the consequences, and spur people to act on the requirements of climate change.