2024 has become a fast moving train, it’s destination, just down the road.
The journey of 2025 begins immediately, its own destination a subject of retrospection and creation, an audit of 2024 and a projection into 2025.
Our sector, sports, will be affected very much by events around the world at a time considered one of the most perilous in human history. There are major wars, conflicts and crisis between the superpowers.
At the same time, Africa is not immune from the various vagaries, her resources fueling the wars even as the continent remains the theatre of other issues such as re-colonization, the endless exploitation of its mineral resources by the Superpowers, and the ongoing devastating effects of Climate Change, a real and current existential threat to humanity.
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Simply put, the world’s climatic conditions have changed drastically, mostly as a result of carbon emissions through various sources mostly man-created.
The world is distracted – confusing data and information, denial of the obvious, ignorance, poverty-mentality, natural disasters, diseases, wars and so on!
Where is Africa in all of this? Where is the most populated African country in all of this? What is the ‘Giant of Africa’ doing to contribute to the conversations, or to confront this real and current danger?
To start with, Climate Change is not a dinner-table conversation yet in Nigeria despite the drastic weather changes that the country has been experiencing in recent years manifesting in unusual floods, rising sea levels, droughts, disease and so on.
Media conversations in Nigeria are more in the areas of the depressed economy, jobless youths, low production capacity, poor infrastructure, limited facilities and opportunities, Third -division leadership that is thrown up as a result of ‘faulty’ political systems and structures.
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Nigerians, in general, and the youths to whom the future belongs, need to have all information on Climate Change and become not just advocates but also activists in dealing with this threat to humanity. Whilst doing so, there are an ocean of opportunities for advancement and development of the youths.
As the United National deploys the ‘tools’ for the fight with Climate Change, Nigeria must be prepared to play its part.
Digital technology platforms are the home ground of Nigerian super stars in the entertainment industry, just as the digital economy is a thriving sector for young entrepreneurs. Climate Change advocacy must be linked to the digital economy.
We must extend the previous activities and programs of the United Nations in the early 2000s, through the establishment of special
Unit to work within the Millennium Development Goals Agenda architecture, using sports, amongst other soft power tools, to drive the eradication of hunger, poverty, disease, illiteracy and unemployment of the youths, by the year 2015.
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The present Sustainable Development Goals Agenda has been elongated and its mandate includes Climate Change issues. Champions are needed to take the message to the rest of the world.
Nigeria, with its huge youth population, is a major African centre and its influence and position in Africa make getting involved an imperative.
The country must recruit champions for the cause and in the process of implementation benefit immensely from the process.
Nigerian youths must properly interrogate the issue of Climate Change, use Digital technology platforms and the activities that magnetize them – Entertainment and the Arts – Sports, Fashion, Music, Dance, Filment etc. to join the global ‘fight’.
The Conversation must start now!
