By Kelvin Obambon
The Cross River Movement (TCRM) has embarked on tree planting exercise to jointly mark the World Health Day and the 51st birthday of its founder and Chief Executive, Mr. Iso Bassey.
The event took place on Thursday 7th April, 2022 at the Women Development Center, Parliamentary Road, Calabar.
Speaking, Mrs. Edidiong Umoh-Ebigwai, Executive Assistant to TCRM founder, who coordinated the tree planting exercise, said The Cross River Movement is a non partisan, not-for-profit organization that seeks to bring together Cross Riverians and lovers of the state to create a brighter future through collaboration and engagement that will ignite positive actions aimed towards development.
She said, “What brought about this event – the tree planting project for climate change in honour of World Health Day is that sometime in February we had the “Love Cross River” campaign which was to ignite the love and passion for Cross River State as a whole, knowing where we came from and where we are today.
“In the course of the project we had some pledges that were made and one of them was 50 trees donation to an organization that is fronting several actions. We wanted to donate these trees to support and partner with them. Following that pledge that was made is this fulfilment – the donation and the tree planting itself, which incidentally falls on World Health Day which also happens to be the founder’s birthday. That’s what brought about this entire event. It’s a build up from February, 2022 until now.”
In a remark, Sct Kennedy Omojefe of Transformation Home Africa, said World Health Day is set aside to recognize the importance that is attached to human health.
He said the theme of this year’s World Health Day which is, “Our Health, Our Planet”, succinctly captures the correlations between the environment and human health, adding that “the earth is affecting our lives in every way. Our planet which is our only home is actually being destroyed. Heat on its own can actually affect our cognitive behaviour, the way we function; it can affect our metabolism and a lot of things happening around us. Our way of life generally is actually making people die younger. These are some of the issues we try to address. We at Transformation Home address these issues by planting trees.”
Stressing on the type of tree people should be planting, Omojefe said, “if we plant fruit trees everybody will see fruit to eat every time. If everybody in the country plant at least one fruit tree every year, there will be enough fruit trees that even the beggars will see enough fruit to eat. Through this project we are trying to solve the problem of food insecurity and climate change because these trees themselves are going to take a lot of carbon dioxide off the air. They will bring shades and also reduce the temperature of the environment.”
He thanked the TCRM for the donation of 50 trees and the American Corner for providing a space for the tree planting exercise, noting that, “we planted a lot of trees 5 years ago, but we didn’t put people to take care of them. Those trees not all of them survive. A lot of them died off. So these ones we are putting them in the care of American Corner.”
Meanwhile, the founder of TCRM, Mr. Iso Bassey who spoke in an interview with our correspondent, said the exercise was significant in that trees provide livelihoods to an estimated 1.7billion people globally, representing 20 per cent of the world’s total population.
On the environment aspect, he said 13million people die from environmental related issues which could have been prevented by trees as they help absorb green house gases from the atmosphere and release oxygen.
He lauded the past administrations of governors Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke, saying they showed so much passion for trees as evidenced in the aggressive tree planting campaigns embarked upon during their dispensations.
Mr. Bassey therefore urged Cross Riverians to imbibe the culture of tree planting, adding that they should “follow the templates and approach of Transformation Home Africa, which is to plant trees in places where they can be put in the custody of people. It’s not just about planting, it’s about nurturing and making sure that those trees actually survive.”
He also expressed preference for the planting of fruit trees to serve a dual purpose of protecting the environment and at the same time providing food for the people.
The TCRM Chief however concluded by calling on Cross Riverians to get their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) and ensure they fully participate in the electoral process so as to vote in the right leaders.
Among the personalities that took part in the exercise was the Executive Director of Electoral College Nigeria, Kunle Lawal.
