Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE) Africa commemorates the World Environment Day today June 5th, 2018, at DIDI Museum in Victoria Island.

FADE Africa is a Non-Government Organization founded by famed explorer and adventurer, Dr. Newton Jibunoh. They pride themselves in environmental activism and have been involved in numerous environmental activities since inception.

The theme for this year’s World Environment Day is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’. The United Nations is teaming up with organizations and individuals around the world to raise awareness on the issue of plastic pollution and also promote a reduction in the single use of plastic.

Plastic is everywhere. It is in our homes, offices, parks, cars and natural environment. More than 70% of the plastic used today is used only once and discarded. Plastic materials take more than 100 years to fully decompose but are used on a daily basis. With all the plastic in circulation, it forces us to ask the question “Where is our plastic going?”

In a bid to answer the question and many more bothering on the future of our environment, FADE Africa organized its World Environment Day event with the tag “Art Goes Green’. The event was not only to enlighten the guests on other ways of reusing their plastic waste artistically; it was also an avenue for the participants to learn about the increasing danger of plastic pollution with the intention of changing mindsets for the better. The tagline for this year’s theme is ‘if you can’t reuse it, refuse it’. This is a clever phrase reminding people to be conscious of their plastic usage and to try as much as possible to reuse their plastic.

As an effort to get the young minds involved in such a positive event, FADE Africa invited students from four neighboring Secondary Schools: Victoria Island Senior Secondary School, Kuramo Senior College, Government Senior Secondary School and Parenthood Foundational International College to be a part of the event. Some schools displayed arts and crafts while others gave short intelligent speeches.

Wale Adebiyi, the Co-founder of Wecyclers – Nigeria’s foremost recycling company, talked about the dangers of plastic pollution, the need to imbibe the culture of recycling and how his company uses incentive-based strategy to encourage people to recycle. His organization has over the years worked tirelessly to raise awareness on the issue of recycling waste.  

The artists who showcased their art stole the show with their thought-provoking piece of artwork. Present was Yelloseesee Uwaoma, an INKllusrator who makes classic art with regular pens. He displayed beautiful pieces of artwork created from plastic. The idea behind his work was recreating art from trash. 

Another artist who impressed those in attendance was Odunayo Ajayi, a photographer and concept artist. His thought-provoking piece illustrated how plastic was taking over our lives and how we are living on a planet of plastic. The message from the artwork simply tells us that we can’t continue to ignore the plastic problem around us.  It was a wakeup call to how imperative it is for society to curb the menace before it is too late.

Olusola Ajagbonna from My Craft My Lagos also graced the occasion with her incredible artifacts made from recycled plastic. Olusola is an upcycling professional. She works with glass, plastic, wood and upcycles them into brand new usable artifacts. Some of her pieces include flower vases, center tables, colorful glass jars e.t.c.

Olusola engaged those present in a short session of upcycling plastic. This proved to be very engaging and interesting as people left with light bulb ideas for other uses of their plastics instead of disposing of after a single use.

Also in attendance was the newly appointed Director of NACCIMA, Amb Ayo Olukanni; an avid environmentalist who stated that going plastic-free was possible as currently, the UNEP compound in Nairobi, Kenya was completely plastic free. He also lauded countries like Kenya and Rwanda that had gone a step further than just reducing and reusing but to outright rejecting through legislature banning the use of plastic bags in the society.

In closing the occasion, Dr Jibunoh encouraged everyone present to care a little bit more about the environment. He addressed the youth especially because he believes the youth are indeed the future. He also singled out one of the students who gave a beautiful presentation and through the support of FADE promised to sponsor her through her higher education.