Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said the number of trees in the state is not enough to combat flooding, erosion and desertification.
The governor said this in Lagos on Tuesday at a tree planting ceremony to commemorate the 75th birthday of the founder of Fight Against Desert Encroachment, Dr. Newton Jibunoh.
Fashola said between 2008 and 2012, the state planted about 4.2million trees.
He said there was evidence to show that those who had fraternised with the conservation foundation had lived on to become 90 and beyond.
Fashola said, "Businesses, factories, car assembly plants will be consumed if the environment wins this last battle. It is the final battle. Our engagement with nature has been one of a constant battle. Many times we have won, the engineers have propelled us to greater heights to overcome nature and control it.
"But somehow, somewhere, I think we have taken a little too much and nature is fighting back. If nature wins, it will be very perilous for our planet, but we can begin to appease nature by giving her back some things."
The governor stated that many parts of the world were losing their arable land, adding that this made it necessary for every home in the state to plant trees.
Fashola saluted Jibunoh for dedicating four decades of his life to environmental conservation.
He recalled that some days ago he was at the Lekki area where he saw a cluster of Ekki trees which is the last, adding that for those who were familiar with the tree, it was used to make footwear.
Jibunoh said the tree planting exercise was meant to evoke in the minds of everyone, a call to action, a call to be educated about what the people were doing to their environment.
He urged everyone to take the message away that if members of their family were celebrating birthdays, it would go a long way if they used trees to commemorate such occasions.
"If this my little message can be taken seriously, you would have also given me a better birthday present because that is what I have stood for in the past 40 years and that is what I will continue to stand for all through the rest of my life," he said.
