{"id":15417,"date":"2025-07-08T11:36:52","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T11:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/?p=15417"},"modified":"2025-07-08T11:54:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T11:54:33","slug":"fouad-oki-leads-bold-plan-to-plant-1-million-trees-reclaim-lagos-environmental-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/2025\/07\/08\/fouad-oki-leads-bold-plan-to-plant-1-million-trees-reclaim-lagos-environmental-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Fouad Oki Leads Bold Plan to Plant 1 Million Trees, Reclaim Lagos\u2019 Environmental Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a bold move to promote a healthier, greener, and cleaner Lagos, a non-governmental organization, <\/span>EKO Occupational Safety, Health and Environment<\/span>, has launched an aggressive campaign and advocacy initiative to plant <\/span>one million trees<\/span> across the state over the next <\/span>ten years<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of its mission, the group is also calling on residents to take active roles in safeguarding their environment\u2014especially by discouraging open defecation and other violations of environmental laws.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Executive Programme Director, <\/span>Ogboni Fouad Oki<\/span>, disclosed this during a virtual meeting with media executives, where he unveiled the statewide campaign and advocacy plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to him, the group is determined to restore Lagos to its former glory\u2014marked by greener, more serene, and aesthetically pleasing surroundings. He affirmed the NGO\u2019s commitment to confronting environmental challenges head-on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur target is to plant at least 100,000 trees annually,\u201d Oki said. \u201cWe are also on course to plant 10,000 trees before <\/span>July 15<\/span>, in commemoration of <\/span>World Environment Day<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He described the environmental crisis as a \u201cmatter of survival and existence\u201d for all Lagos residents, warning that the current challenges stem from years of environmental neglect and abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

To reverse the trend, the group is advocating for:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Voluntary and consistent tree planting by residents,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Integration of environmental education into school curricula,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Early sensitization of children (from age 5) on the importance of protecting the environment,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 And a revival of the eco-conscious culture of Lagos in the 1940s\u20131970s, especially in neighborhoods like Surulere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oki revealed that in the past <\/span>nine months<\/span>, the group\u2014with expert support\u2014has already begun tree-planting exercises in areas such as Ikorodu Road (inward Ojota), Third Mainland Bridge to the International Airport, Fadeyi to Victoria Island and Lekki, and from the National Arts Theatre to Badagry.<\/span><\/p>\n

He noted that over <\/span>15,000 different tree species<\/span> have been supplied by <\/span>IITA Ibadan<\/span>, while the campaign enjoys strategic support from the <\/span>Lagos Conservation Society<\/span> and <\/span>Yabatech School of Agriculture<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

While expressing concern over what he described as environmental neglect in the construction of the <\/span>Odo Iya Alaro-Opebi link bridge<\/span> by the Lagos State Government, Oki assured the public that the group does not anticipate any conflict with the state authorities in executing the project.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a bold move to promote a healthier, greener, and cleaner Lagos, a non-governmental organization, EKO Occupational Safety, Health and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-grassroots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15420,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15417\/revisions\/15420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}