As part of activities to commemorate the International Women’s Day (IWD), a non-governmental organizations, Charitable Network for Community Empowerment (CHANCE), has started educating female traders on measures to further protect their families and community as well as strategies to earn additional income from becoming an environmental sustainability advocate in Lagos State.
CHANCE, in collaboration with the Lagos State Government through the Office the Special Adviser to governor on climate change and circular economy, and counterpart on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and others, stated that the.engagement was to ensure women, who were custodians of the environment, explore how their daily actions could create a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for the state.
According to the group, the celebration period provides the best opportunity to empower women with knowledge and practical skills to accelerate action for a cleaner environment, climate resilience, and sustainable development.
During the event held inside Computer Village in Ikeja on Saturday with the theme: “Empowered Women, Cleaner Communities, Greener Future,” The founder of CHANCE, Olajumoke Saliu, noted that a clean environment does not just embellish the city rather contribute to the health and economic growth, as well as long-term survival.
Saliu, a passionate advocate for community development, stressed that the event was in compliance with the global theme for IWD, saying ‘Accelerate Action,” calls on us to move beyond discussions and take practical steps toward progress; and that is what we are doing today.
“From our activities today, we have been able sensitise our fellow women who are market leaders and traders within Ikeja Computer Village on the importance of proper waste management, environmental sustainability and upcycling. We are doing this to make them become creative on waste around them.
Explaining what they did inside the market, the convener noted that they have been able to clean up the market effectively and educate the traders on the impact of a clean environment and responsible waste management on climate resilience.
“They were also made to understand how they could contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), just as we demonstrated to them how they could convert any item in their house that cannot serve the purpose which they bought them for to other means.
“We also engage in a demonstrative class on upcycling, where we will explore home gardening and food security using recycled materials.
“We are doing this because of our understanding that marketplaces like ours are economic powerhouses, and with proper waste management, they can also be centers of environmental responsibility.
“By adopting simple, everyday habits—such as sorting waste, recycling, and upcycling— and accelerating action, we position ourselves as leaders of change in our markets, homes, and communities and can significantly reduce pollution, safeguard our health, and create a sustainable legacy for future generations. We must move from awareness to action, from conversations to impact”.
Corroborating Saliu, the special adviser to Lagos state governor on Sustainable Development Goals, Oreoluwa Finnih, argued that sustaining the environment through waste recycling and other measures that could protect the communities were part of the affirmative plan the state aimed to achieve before 2030.
Finnih, who raised concerns over the period left for Nigeria particularly Lagos state, to meet all SDGs, stressed that the time left was enough to completely address the goal, sating this will be done through commitment of everyone.
The aide to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who spoke on ‘Rome on waste management on SDG attainment, said the aim of the advocacy was to reduce carbon footprint on earth because they contribute to Nigerians health challenges through what is consumed.
“For us in Lagos State, it has completely been about circularity, sustainability, environmental protection, and making sure that we live a life that lives a very small footprint on the earth.
“We are also aware of the new policy against single-use plastics and also the ban last year on styrofoam, these are some of the efforts that the government is making to ensure that our environment stays healthy.
“We reduce the amount of waste because the waste has to go somewhere, either into a landfill or into the ocean, which we do not want. This is because at the end of the day, we are also going to be victims of our own mishaps and mismanagement of the environment. The state government is taking some of these policies and actions to ensure that the environment stays safe”.
On her part, The special adviser to Lagos state governor on climate change and circular economy, Titilayo Oshodi, who described education of women on climate change issues as paramount, argued that it promotes sustainability.
“In commemorating International Women’s Day, there is a need for us to establish some level of climate literacy. People have to become more aware of their sanitation decisions.
“The desire and the decision to come to Computer Village Ikeja is because, in itself, it is an ecosystem of various businesses, nano, micro, medium sized, and these are people that generate a lot of waste in various categories.
“So, the organisation that has decided to put this together felt it needful to come and drive some level of education, not only to heighten the level of sanitation within the shops and business but also to let them know that they need not throw waste.
“So, we are building an ecosystem of climate friendly citizens in Lagos and our desire is that people become more aware and transition away from the linear economy of throwing things away, and, you know, converting into secularisation”.
While taking the women through practical mode of benefiting in the recycling economy, the founder, Foundation for a Better Environment (FABE), Temitope Okunnu, said it is important women acquire skills that turns waste to wealth.
“We are celebrating the International Women’s Day, and our message is very clear, ‘waste is not a waste until you completely wasted’.
“We need the women here and as well as the men to understand that their waste is a resource. So, we are here to tell the traders that they need to start segregating their waste materials so they can begin to earn from it.
“And apart from just earning from it, they can also begin to learn a skill in ensuring that some of these waste materials can actually be turned into something beautiful.
“We are going to be training them on how to use their discarded tyres and turning them into tables and chairs so that they can begin to see value in that kind of way, and then they can also turn it into a product and earn,” Ms Okunnu said.
In appreciation of the Lagos state government and CHANCE, Abisola Azeez, Iyaloja of Computer Village Ikeja, said the traders would be willing to acquire the skills.
“We are excited that they have brought the sensitisation and advocacy on waste management to our market. We know that is a form of income generation, and we have people that want to do that kind of business as well. We are happy and glad that they have come here to train them.
