Environment and government: What has scholarship got to do with them?

Scientists say the environment encompasses everything around us. In the academic environment of the University of Ibadan, on May 25, a professor emeritus of wildlife management and an expert of environmental protection, Seth Sunday Ajayi, made this clear and simple. In academic and intellectual sphere, Ajayi’s half a century’s unequivocal achievements speak volume. His work on various aspects of agricultural and environmental issues has taken him to many countries and has won him many prizes and awards.

It would be fruitless to list all these prizes and awards in this piece, because it would not be enough to accommodate them. But one of the awards is worthy of mention: the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) award (in the science category). With the virtue of this singular award, Ajayi now belongs to the same family of international icons like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Barth Nnaji, Peter Ebigbo, among others.

Since it is essentially expected that each NNOM laureate should deliver an Award Winner’s Lecture, at least, once in his or her lifetime, the University of Ibadan was chosen for the 2018 Award Winner’s Lecture, which was delivered by Professor Emeritus Seth Sunday Ajayi. The choice of the University of Ibadan as the venue of the lecture was more of a providence than a coincidence. It was in this university that Ajayi started his teaching career in 1968 and was promoted to the first African professor of wildlife management in 1980. For him, this NNMA lecture at the University of Ibadan was a home coming after many years of retirement.

Immediately after Ajayi’s intimating citation was read, he walked to the podium and started professing to the audience his contributions and achievements in various areas of ecological and environmental studies that spanned almost fifty years in his lecture titled Refocusing the Attention of the Federal Government of Nigeria on Ecology and the Environment. Surprisingly, this turned out to be four interesting lectures in on: first, the dwindling forestry and wildlife and resources of Nigeria; second, climate change in Nigeria and its impacts on the Nigerian environment; third, the problem of erosion: the Nigerian environment context, and fourth, pollution in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. He finally ended the lecture with nine submissions. He rounded up all these in one hour with a simple PowerPoint presentation.

While talking about the dwindling forestry and wildlife resources of Nigeria, he lamented the alarming rate at which the forests and woodlands of the country are declining and how these declines are adversely affecting biodiversity to the point of threatening them into extinction. He identified some of the consequences of dwindling forestry and wildlife resources in Nigeria. According to him, they include biodiversity, habitat loss, climate change, loss of water and soil resources, economic loss and social consequences.

On climate change in Nigeria and its impacts on the Nigerian environment, he talked about global warming, greenhouse effects and causes of climate change. With clear figures, he explained the impacts of climate change in Nigerian environment. According to him, they include massive drought and deforestation, land degradation and gully erosions, desert encroachment, increase in temperature, threat to agriculture and food security, and biodiversity loss.

On the problem of erosion: the Nigerian environment context, he talked about the concept of erosion, types of soil erosion, causes of soil erosion, the problem of soil erosion, all this with greater emphasis on Southeastern Nigeria. With clear figures and tables, he explained the distribution of erosion sites in Nigeria, possible solutions to them as well as some recommendations.

The final aspect of his lecture is pollution in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. According to him, there are two major pollution problems in the Niger Delta, which are oil spillage and gas flaring, and he talked extensively on them. On oil spillage, he discussed the types, causes and effects with gruesome figures and charts. On gas flaring, he used a simple table to compare Nigeria with other oil producing countries on natural gas flaring based on the percentage of gross production of 1991. Disappointingly, Nigeria topped the list with 76%.

Now, the question is: how has Ajayi succeeded in refocusing the attention of the federal government of Nigeria to the problems of ecology and the environment? The answer to this question could be found in what he called “my submission” at the page that marked the end of the lecture. According to him, some of these submissions are as follow:

“There is an urgent need for the revitalisation and upgrade of national laws on wildlife and forest conservation in Nigeria.

It is also imperative for the government as a matter of urgency to create wildlife and ecotourism research institutes and also the establishment of National University of Fishery in the country.

It is important that a holistic and comprehensive master plan be prepared as regards curbing the effects of climate change in Nigeria.

The government should and must encourage the promotion of community participation in policy making and management of natural resources with adequate monitoring in the country.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of multi-national companies operating within the Niger Delta and other regions within the country must be explicitly lived up to.”

The adage: using one stone to kill two birds was fulfilled on this same day. After the 2018 Award Winner’s Lecture, Ajayi’s new book titled 40 Years of Service in Nigerian’s Premier University was formally launched. The chief launcher of the book was Alhaji (Dr) Bamanga Tukur, and the book reviewer was Professor Julius Okojie.

In his remarks read by the former Minister of Sports and Special Duties, Professor Taoheed Adedoja, Tukur said, “This is a book of record of forty years of service, innovation, creativity, resilience, and achievements in the University system in Nigeria (I969 – 2009).”

Professor Julius Okojie, in his review of the book, which was read by his representative, said, “This is a summary of his educational background and research endeavours… please, get a copy of for yourself and endeavour to read about the existing findings in wildlife investigation.”

There is no doubt that Ajayi has retired from active university service, but he is not tired. The university, the country and the world at large still need his expertise to solve wildlife and environmental problems.

Kingsley Alumona writes from Ibadan