ERA/FoEN loses environment activist

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described the death of its staff and activist, Sunny Olukoya, as a big loss to the environmental justice community and the struggles for righting the injustices in the Niger Delta region.

Olukoya died on January 9, 2020 and was buried in Benin City on January 16.

Aside the environment sphere, Olukoya was also an educationist and had previously taught in many schools in Edo State.

In a statement issued in Lagos, the group said the late Olukoya joined ERA/FoEN in the late 2000s as project officer working on the renewable energy campaigns, a post he held till his demise.

ERA/FoEN said that Olukoya was “a model of relentless and untiring defence of the human ecosystem, a voice of the voiceless and a strong advocate for a just transition away from polluting fossil fuels.”

The environmental justice group explained that the environment community will forever remember his commitment to the struggles for environment and social justice amidst his deteriorating heath.

“We extend our condolences to his wife, Mrs Ewere Olukoya, his four children and the entire Olukoya family and pray that God will strengthen them at this time of grief. It is also an opportunity for those who know what he stood for to reflect and interrogate on those issues he lived and died for,” the statement read.