The minister with the delegation and some staff of the ministry in Abuja.
The Minister of State for Environment Dr. Iziaq Salako has disclosed that it is environment that drives our health, emphasising that environment is everything that determines our livelihood.
In a statement, the Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the ministry, Ibrahim Haruna, quoted Salako to have disclosed this during a courtesy visit by the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society led by its President Prof. Akinade Olatunji in his office in Abuja. The Minister revealed that part of the strategies, the Ministry of Environment is to strengthen the Planning, Research and Statistics Department (PRS) to conduct research on the issues affecting environment. “We need strategy and evidence-based solutions to sensitise and educate our populace on the issues of the environment such as flooding, pollution and erosion control, land degradation, logging of trees and climate change.
The Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako, flanked to his left by the President of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, Prof. Akinade Olatunji and Vice President of the Society, Dr. (Engr.) Umar Hassan.
“The minister said we need to promote planting of trees, protect our forest against unlawful logging of trees, protecting our wildlife and ecosystem”, he added. Salako commended the President of the society and his team and assured them that the ministry is ready to partner, collaborate with organisation in providing lasting solutions to environmental issues in the country and world at large. Earlier, the President of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, Prof. Akinade Olatunji stated that his organisation was always ready to collaborate with the ministry and assist in achieving the ministry’s co-mandates of the Performance Bond signed with President Bola Tinubu.
The Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako (Right, receiving some journals from the President of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, Prof. Akinade Olatunji.
Olatunji disclosed that Nigeria needs a holistic approach and not cosmetic approach to solving environmental challenges, emphasising that his group was always ready to provide an enabling environment through partnership and collaboration with the ministry. The President, however, requested the presence of the Minister of State at the 59th Annual International Conference and Exhibition (Jos 2024), scheduled for March 18 and 20, 2024. He also used the occasion to bring to knowledge of the minister that the society would be holding its 39th International Conference on Environmental Geochemistry and Health with the theme, “Geo-environmental Cleanup, Soil Geochemical Survey and Environmental Contamination”, between June 30 and July 5, 2024 in Abuja, Nigeria.
