The Global Environmental Facility Small Grant Programme (GEF-SGP) has provided solar panels to supply electricity to eight classrooms in Government Secondary School (GSS), Yaba in Abaji Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mr David Michael, an official of GEF-SGP, said this on Wednesday, July 11, 2018 when he paid a monitoring and evaluation visit to the school, saying that this action was to address effects of climate change in the area.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Michael is the Executive Director, Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation, the implementing NGO of the GEF-SGP.
“As part of capacity building of students to address climate change in FCT schools, GEF Small Grant Programme has powered eight classrooms in GSS Yaba, in Abaji Area Council,’’ Michael said.
He said that the move was triggered by absence of electricity in Yaba town.
Michael recalled that when the NGO, in collaboration with GEF officials, visited the school to establish an Environmental Club, it discovered that the boarding school had no electricity supply.
“We decided to power eight classrooms with solar so that the students can read and do their assignments at night instead of using candles and lanterns,’’ he said.
The executive director underscored the need for the country to break free from the use of generators and lanterns and embrace renewable energy.
Responding, the principal of the school, Mr Abdulsalam Ismail, thanked GEF SGP for providing the school with solar facility and promised to sustain its usage for the students’ benefit.
GEF-SGP, which is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria, focused its attention on the campaign on environmental management.
NAN also reports that GEF-SGP had been supporting pollution-related projects with over $150,000 to support efforts to address pollution, including plastic pollution.
Launched in 2009, GEF-SGP supports non-governmental and community-based organisations in Nigeria in efforts to protect the environment, while generating sustainable livelihoods for poor and marginalised people in developing countries.
GEF-SGP is implemented by UNDP on behalf of GEF and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
With its presence in over 25 states, GEF-SGP has executed more than 110 community-based projects, while supporting projects that would maintain equilibrium between human needs and environmental conditions.
By Deji Abdulwahab
