Ikeja, Lagos | August 26, 2025
The Lagos State Government has reiterated its commitment to instilling environmental consciousness in young people, declaring that the change Lagos needs in tackling waste and climate challenges must begin in schools.
Speaking at the 2025 Annual Environmental Bees Club (EBC) Handlers’ Symposium held on Tuesday at the LCCI Conference Centre, Alausa, the Permanent Secretary, Office of Environmental Services, Dr. Omobolaji Gaji, said schools are the foundation for cultivating future leaders who will value and protect the environment.
Dr. Gaji, who was represented by the Director of Environmental Education Unit, Mrs. Monsurat Banire, described the gathering as “a strategic investment in the future of Lagos,” stressing that the Environmental Bees Club was not merely symbolic but a framework where students engage the environment as a daily practice of responsibility, innovation, and leadership.
He emphasized the role of teachers as central to the initiative, noting that they are “the pivot around which the framework spins.”
The symposium, themed “Trash to Treasure: Transforming Waste into Resourceful Opportunities in Schools,” according to Gaji, goes beyond a slogan and highlights the opportunities hidden within environmental challenges.
“Compost heaps can become gardens, upcycled waste can spark enterprise, and what children learn about resourcefulness today can grow into industries and livelihoods tomorrow,” he said.
Practical sub-themes for the training included composting, recycling, upcycling, and creative reuse, which Gaji noted are key skills for economic empowerment. He added that with Lagos’s population exceeding 20 million, rapid urbanization and increasing waste streams pose serious pressures that require environmental education to be central in shaping sustainable solutions.
Encouraging EBC Handlers, he urged them to see themselves as “co-architects and drivers of sustainable lifestyles.” He charged them to use every lesson, project, and idea to inspire greener habits among students, saying, “Together, let us build a generation of Lagosians who see waste not as an end, but as the beginning of possibilities.”
In his welcome address, Mr. Ramon Fagbolad, a Director in the Sanitation Department, described the Environmental Bees Club as “the government’s living classroom for environmental literacy.” He explained that the clubs go beyond extracurricular activity by shaping lifelong values, while stressing that Handlers are the torchbearers of behavioural change in schools.
He added that the excursion scheduled for the second day of the symposium was designed not as a social outing, but as a chance to tie classroom lessons to the real environmental challenges facing Lagos.
Also speaking, the Guest Lecturer, Mrs. Temitope Okunnu of FABE International, delivered a paper on “Composting as a Tool for Food Sustainability.” She emphasized collective responsibility in building a sustainable environment and trained Handlers on generating compost from food waste.
The two-day workshop brought together teachers from both public and private schools across Lagos State, further reinforcing the government’s drive to embed environmental education in classrooms as part of its broader vision for a cleaner and greener Lagos.
INN-HOUSE☆ 