NDDC seeks education to tackle environmental crisis

By Dennis Naku

Government authorities and stakeholders, including policymakers, educators and environmental rights advocates, have been urged to adopt environmental education as the fourth pillar of ecological governance to tackle rising environmental crisis in the country.

The Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Niger Delta Development Commission, Dr Patterson Ogon, made the call while delivering the lead paper at the Environmental Education Summit organised by the Department of Adult and Non-Formal Education, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Environmental Education as a Strategic Response to Nigeria’s Environmental Polycrisis: Stakeholder Responsibilities, Delivery Approaches and a Roadmap for Ecological Governance,” Ogon argued that environmental laws and enforcement alone cannot reverse the country’s worsening ecological challenges without a deliberate investment in environmental literacy.

He said, “At the centre of this rather complex and disturbing environmental crisis we face today is leadership. Sophistry is not scholarship. An environmentally uninformed leadership is a disaster waiting to happen.”

Ogon identified environmental illiteracy among citizens and decision-makers as a major impediment to sustainable natural resource management, stressing the need to embed environmental consciousness across all levels of governance and society.

According to him, the country’s environmental challenges extend beyond oil pollution to include desertification in northern Nigeria, gully erosion in the South-East, coastal flooding in Lagos and other coastal communities, as well as environmental degradation caused by illegal mining.

Warning that Nigeria’s population could rise to between 400 million and 440 million by 2050, he said sustainable environmental management must become a national development and security priority.

As part of the solution, Ogon unveiled the proposed Port Harcourt Framework for Environmental Education and Ecological Governance, which advocates a National Environmental Education Policy and Strategic Plan (2026–2035), stronger coordination among environmental institutions, community-based learning, and expanded university-led research on mangrove restoration, flood management and the sustainable development of the Niger Delta’s blue economy.

He urged governments at all levels to mainstream environmental education into formal schooling, adult learning and leadership development programmes.

“Investing in environmental education is not an academic exercise; it is an investment in healthier environments, stronger institutions, resilient communities and a sustainable national future,” the NDDC official said.

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