1. “THE DEAD, THE LIVING DEAD AND THE
UNBORN”

4.  Baikie(excitedly): Old woman come and see what I have
discovered.
 Ojomo: I can not see anything
 Baikie: Can’t you see the beautiful landscape with the turbulence
at that point of the river over there?
 Ojomo: Oh!! That can’t be your discovery. My ancestors have
lived with this, so shall I and my descendants.
 Baikie: I am in love with this place!! Look at the lush vegetation,
the ambient temperature, the beautiful scenery and most
importantly the large volume of food produce people are coming
with from the farm!!
 Ojomo: Yes it is sure beautiful and the custodians of our culture
always help to keep it so.
 Baikie: How?
 Ojomo: We rever the river, some of us even worship it and we do
not fish from the point of meeting, do not farm close to the river,
do not cut trees at the river banks, do not dump things in the
river.

5.  Baikie: George, I see an opportunity for abundant
timber supply for our industries in the Niger-
Benue Confluence and its environs.
 Goldie: You are correct I also heard such
mentioned.
 Baikie: So how are we going to use this to our
benefit and as a means of stalling Bismarck’s
forays into these virgin areas.
 Goldie: I will use Joseph thomson, Sargent and
Wallace to sign up treaties under the National
African Company, which I will rename Royal Niger
Company.
 Baikie: Great, I will also discuss with Lord Lugard.

6.  Colonialism.
 Amalgamation.
 Exploitation.
 Development.
 Minimal levels of socio-economic development with little
impact on the environment.
 Limited Population
 Requiring low levels of infrastructure and lower demands
made on use of available resources.
 Independence
 Need for accelerated development
 Massive use of fossil fuel for development.
 Massive deforestation for development.
 Disregard for the laws of nature in maintaining
ecosystem balance.

8.  Idoko Ajine, did you hear that the Ogunpa
has flooded its banks and killed more than
100 people?
 Ajine: Of course, the Gods are angry.
 Idoko: Which Gods? The unsanitary habits of
dumping refuse in the ogunpa channel,
indiscriminate building of house on river
banks, unplanned construction of
infrastructure and indiscriminate tree felling
for sawn wood and export have all connived
to block the flow of the river.
 Ajine: Haba, Idoko!! You would soon say this
is climate change!!

9.  Idoko: Of course, it is!!!
 Ajine: Can you explain what this your climate
change is all about?
 Idoko: Climate change or global warming is
about the increasing rises of temperature,
globally, especially due to human activities that
result in trapping of the Green House Gases and
when this happens…..
 Ajine(interjects): Wait!! What are Green House
Gases?
 Idoko: GHG for short are many but the major
ones are Carbon Dioxide, Methane, nitrous
oxide, ozone Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and
water vapour. I will explain with the next two
pictures.

10.  Ojomo: Idoko, the son of my son (Grandson)
remind him that it is not the coming of the white
man that caused this problem but a combination
of many things including:
(a) Their disregard for the laws of nature.
(b) Their insatiable quest for unnecessary
consumption.
(c) Over-dependence on firewood as an energy
source, especially the false claim that food
cooked that way is sweeter and better – Suya.
(d) Their propensity to adhere to well-laid out
town planning rules.
(e) Their refusal to understand that use of fossil
fuels as an energy source would likely bring
another armageddon.

14.  Ajine: Have you finished?
 Idoko: No. These GHGs normally absorb and radiate
different types of rays but now human activities and at
times natural disasters have affected the proportion of
these gases in the atmosphere, so they no longer
perform their absorptive and radiative functions well
and the earth is becoming warmer.
 Ajine: So? If the earth becomes warmer, It is only other
continents that it will affect. After all, Africa is already
hot.
 Idoko: That is where you are wrong.
 Ajine: How? Are the other continents not far from
Africa? Even then, Nigeria is also far to be touched by
your climate change.


15.  Idoko: Again you are wrong. Climate change would
globally result in
(a) Sea level rises
(b) Increased frequency and intensity of storms,
hurricanes, floods, droughts, fires, diseases etc
(c) Reduced agricultural production
(d) In Nigeria, the desert would move inwards,
increased drought, more flooding, reduced food
production because of irregularity of rains – which
would further increase poverty in the country and
harsher environment, which would create more
health problems.
 Ajine: If what you say is true and it is this bad, what
has the government been doing about it?

18.  Idoko: It is beyond the government alone. It
involves the citizens, government and the global
community. The global community has identified
five broad areas of concern:
a) Human settlements and health;
b) Water resources, wetlands, and freshwater ecosystems;
c) Energy, industry, commerce, and financial services;
d) Agriculture, food security, land degradation, forestry, and
biodiversity; and
e) Coastal zone and marine ecosystems.
 A United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCC), its attendant protocols,
Ad-hoc committees , various agreements and
action plans etc and numerous discussions are
in place to address this problem.

19.  Ajine: Since all these efforts are already in
place globally, why bother?
 Idoko: In spite of these efforts, global
temperatures have risen by 0.8oC and is
approaching 2oC and the fear is that it would
reach 4oC. If your temperature rises by 2oC,
you would be unconscious, which highlights
the severity of the situation.
 Ajine: So, Mr Climate Change!! What can we
do?

20.  Negon: Did you hear what those people are
saying?
 Chegbe: Yes, I do and it is so frightening that
I would not want them to bring me to suffer
for their inactions and wrong actions.
 Negon: From what they are saying, do you
think they are bothered about us and the rest
of the future generations?
 Chegbe: Let’s hear what their governments
are doing before we conclude.

21.  Idoko: We just have to:
 ACT NOW;
 ACT INDIVIDUALLY;
 ACT TOGETHER(COLLECTIVELY); AND
 ACT DIFFERENTLY (INNOVATIVELY).
 ACT POSITIVELY AND SUSTAINABLY.
 ACT NOW:
 Understand the reasons for Climate Change.
 ACT INDIVIDUALLY
 Commit to desist from depleting the ozone
layer.
 ACT TOGETHER.
 Be part of a partnership for climate change
champions.
 ACT DIFFERENTLY.

26.  Negon: If they commit themselves to the FIVE
ACTs, there is hope for us.
 Chegbe: ONLY IF THEY DO!!!!!!!! AND FAST
TOO, SO THAT THEY DON’T CAUSE US TO
PERISH BEFORE WE ARE BORN!!!!!