By Abdu Rafiu
One does not have to be a star gazer to see what battles lie ahead for the inhabitants as well as the government to save and preserve Ikoyi, the abode of the movers and shakers of our society. Ikoyi, the community of our pride! It is the habitation of the affluent. It is home to the powerful. The changes going on in the environment may not hit the inhabitants poignantly as it would an irregular visitor. The development that has occurred there is breath-taking. Good as the development may appear on the surface, it has inherent frightening negative implications for the future. There is this sprouting of high-rise buildings like mushrooms after the first rain. For us Nigerians, all that glitters is gold. Because plants do not glitter, they are giving way to Towers. So, left, right and centre the community now boasts of many high-rise buildings.
Ikoyi started out as modest family residences whether for the British expatriates, High Commissioners from Commonwealth countries, ambassadors, senior government functionaries or the affluent Nigerian business barons. Until lately, hardly could one find a property that was more than one-storey building. The houses were immersed amidst plants, big trees, luxuriant plants and flowers. It was all a restorative ambience, to refresh, to heal and to reinvigorate. You had the enchanting barking of dogs; squirrel jumping from tree to tree and cats peeping cunningly at your approach. Relaxation centres, such as Ikoyi Club and schools did very little to disturb the greenness of its vegetation and serenity. Indeed, its exclusivity and wholesomeness of the air after the rowdiness, the hurly burly in town is defined by its gardens, something that invokes peace on the soul. There is joy and there is happiness. There is smoothness of pigmentation and polish in pronouncement of inhabitants. There is refinement in carriage and conduct. Lawfulness is on parade. That was Ikoyi at its peak.
Not too long ago, the business instincts of my people soon awakened. These have given rise to Towers, one said to be Africa’s tallest residential building with 43 floors, each apartment selling for $10 million (US Dollars—I leave Emefiele to convert that into Naira). There is another with 30 apartments; yet there is another with 35 apartments; and there is another Tower containing 20 luxury apartments. It is believed that Ikoyi has the most expensive real estate in the whole of Africa with an average price of $1.5 million US Dollars. That for me is not the issue. My concern is Ikoyi of tomorrow. The grave danger the clearing of trees and of flowers, the gardens portends for its inhabitants. It will suffer from environmental hazards; there will be pollution-related diseases. Flooding is given. There will be no plants to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen through photosynthesis. The elves, male elves that tend trees, and female elves that tend flowers that in their benevolence convert carbon dioxide to oxygen would have been driven away with the disappearance of trees and other species of plants. The implication of this is that there would be a sharp decline in oxygen supply. The nixies in charge of water, the lagoon and the oceans would flood the Island and sweep it away. Plants curb erosion. They serve as windbreakers and grasses protect the soil. By absorbing water grasses check erosion. I am not Professor Benedict Ijeomah nor do I flaunt his credentials and competence to say which part of the community may sink. Professor Ijeomah, a former dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Studies, experiencing a flash before his inner gaze, made a controversial prediction about Victoria Island in 1990.
The sylphs are in charge of the air and wind. Man also needs the radiation of the plants, radiations from the soil and those from grasses to nourish his body for radiant health. It is not for nothing that foot therapists admonish us to walk bare-footed as part of walking exercise. Living high above the ground one must realise that radiations from the soil would obviously be severely curtailed if they rise to the high-up floors at all. In approving high-rise building plans, I wonder if thought was given to the number of cars and parking places that would be crowding the town given the constraints of the total land space area of Ikoyi. Already, there is excruciating traffic build-ups on the roads, morning and evening. It is something our young and self-driven governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, may wish to look into. During Babatunde Fashola’s era, there was beautification of Lagos. Who would have thought such transformation possible in hitherto chaotic Lagos? With his Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello, by his side, the miraculous happened. Sanwo-Olu has the same Tunji Bello with him today and fortunately again as his Commissioner for Environment. We cannot be transforming with plants at one end of town and be cutting down trees at another end, turning Ikoyi into a commercial centre. I recall some years back, when business wizard Sunny Odogwu raised a massive building to be turned into a hotel, the Residents Association led by Mr. Ola Vincent, former Central Bank Governor, were up in arms and they stopped the planned enterprise. What has happened to the Association that it is in slumber today? Why has the Horticultural Society once led by General Henry Adefope looked away?
There is concern in nearly all parts of the world that the rising CO2 concentration is pushing global warming at an alarming rate. Scientists who have occupied themselves with it say during the Ice ages and warm period in the past 600, 000 years, the CO2 concentration varied between about 180 ppm and 300 ppm. Today the CO2 is higher than ever, it is about 400 pmm which is an equivalent of 930 billion tons of carbon in the atmosphere. Any further destruction of the eco-system through fire as it has been witnessed in Turkey and Greece, and devastation of plant areas, the global temperature can only get worse. The weather, as it has been observed, has suddenly become an unknown element—its nature and significance, that mankind cannot predict.
Alongside, there is mayhem across the globe — intolerance, dictatorial governments, protest demonstration, suppression of uprising, forceful crush of essential rights, political upheavals, Covid-19, horrible crimes, and incendiary acts — the handiwork of humans who are insensate and insensitive. In the end all add up to influence the environment as they emanate from thoughts.
Therefore, at the Climate Change summit meeting planned to take place in the United Kingdom, later this year, it is essential to discuss not just natural catastrophes, but importantly, man-made catastrophes, because the former is as a result of the latter. Preparations towards the summit conference are at fever pitch, as world leaders collate views and reasons. Whatever decisions are made at the summit could prove to be the last nail in the planet’s coffin. It should be borne in mind that the planet’s weather distortions are not related only to carbon emissions. There have been lockdowns this year, so, carbon emissions from air travel and road transport saw a lesser rate, yet, mankind already used up all the planet’s biological resources regenerated in one year, as of July, that is last month. As things are today, our last hope of extricating the planet from the throes of the moment lies in the knowledge of the imperative of cooperation between mankind and the forces behind the Elements.
We may also begin to realise, as is revealed in the enlightenment spreading on earth in these times, that there are other correlations that govern life, what may be called ethereal activities in particular. The natural world — trees, rivers, animals, and birds, are at our mercy. That is why we human beings have a pernicious influence on the environment. The physical and material manifestations are as a result of mankind’s ethereal activities. In the past, it was said: “A change of climate will do you good.” Not anymore! The environment has changed. More than ever before, the coming summit provides a unique opportunity for the world leaders to consciously work towards protecting our environment. If we don’t protect it, we risk dying along with it. For our own sake, we must put an end to what adversely affects it and these are our wrong physical and ethereal activities.
Unknown to a great many, our obsession with material possessions while neglecting spiritual values, and the extreme drive for earthly power, fame, base motives, and physical pleasures are detrimental to the planet. This is because they give rise to evil thoughts, dark volitions, utterances, and writings, all of which constitute dross on our souls. These blur vision, there is narrowing of horizon and misconduct becomes the order of the day. With misconduct we spin new threads and threads are woven into our carpet of fate, and the cycle continues. The animal kingdom and the luxuriant vegetation of tropical rain forests all suffer. In other words, by perpetually nursing largely evil thoughts, mankind should expect only bitter repercussions. Therefore, we cannot talk about climate change without giving consideration to thoughts that emanate from within us and what we bring about outwardly through physical actions. Thus, the animistic forces in charge of nature find that they need to disentangle the world of our filth and cleanse it. Earthquakes, floods and fire are tools of the disentanglement and cleansing.
The said animistic forces normally work in the areas of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, underwater tremors. Unbelievably, they try to avoid the deaths of people by warning of the approaching happenings. While animals heed and hurriedly vacate the regions, mankind does not. The faculty, the inborn ability to sense such ethereal warning is dulled, atrophied or is completely lost from lack of use. Purification of the world has begun. The intensification and acceleration of events are its features engendered by increase in Light pressure, the Power of the Holy Spirit which is being mediated into Creation in the Age of the Holy Spirit which has dawned unsuspectingly on a great many, even on Christendom. His Rays are bearing down powerfully on Creation and the creatures therein. Apart from the elemental beings, ever so loyal in activity to the Most High, the Creator of all, there is also what are called the furies. From the higher knowledge available today on earth we now know that the furies are formations of mankind’s evil thoughts. They are agents of destruction; they are unleashed! They will manipulate their evil originators and others of their kind in lawful homogeneity.
This is an expression of nature’s Laws — birds of the same feather flock together, and, what is sown must be harvested in multiples. This massive outworking is partly reflected in the irregular pattern of weather conditions being experienced now. Deforestation will be increased by the wildfires in forests. There have been leaders who destroyed forests in the name of developing their regions, disregarding the ecosystem. So, as it is often said: “What goes round comes around.” The experiencing of a blanket of snow in high summer may result in frost which can damage or kill young plants whose natural habitat is a warm region. The success of crops depends on the weather as is generally known. Ditto, such unexpected weather has placed animals that migrate based on the seasons in jeopardy. The frivolous Brazilians merrily made snowmen, snowballed, ignoring the fact that “the strange phenomenon” is a warning. What if the fall of snow had not halted at a meter’s height, but turned into a blizzard? Were they prepared to undergo severe snowstorm in high summer?
Oxygen is necessary for all forms of life on earth. Many who died in hospitals in India from Covid-19 did so from shortage of oxygen. The weather upheavals affect the air and plant-life so we can no longer remain in a state of indifference. The weather catastrophes should have a sobering effect on all of us towards ensuring that our attitudes, goals and actions become advantageous to the environment which is a mirror of our ethereal formations. Heart-rending sights of devastation everywhere! Not much of the world is safe—either from man’s inhumanity to man or from environmental hazards triggered by climate change. Ponder: If life on earth were meant only for acquiring material possessions, physical pleasures, earthly power, and success, why then do those who have attained all these still experience dissatisfaction?
The mission of the climate-changes the precipitation of which is the handiwork of Nature beings is to awaken mankind to the need to imbibe the Natural Laws which will ensure the preservation of nature and peace, thereby turning the planet into its original plan, a replica of Paradise that is high up in the Spiritual Realm, our longed-for Home Above. In what seems to be the dim past, etiquette, moral principles, national solidarity, selflessness, integrity, consideration for others, honest earning, scandal-free name, and diligence were considered to be important. With positive thinking, and change of attitude from us, the world leaders who are to meet shortly would be influenced by these to take the right decisions. The time may look short between now and then, a lot can still be achieved as leaders are condensation forming mirrors of the people they lead. In other words, mankind has no alternative to improving inwardly and outwardly. The short time between now and the proposed Climate Change summit meeting must not be wasted. The ball is in our court. We must play ball with the Animistic forces to cleanse the earth of evil, lest the man-made and natural catastrophes become unstoppable.
Ikoyi is Nigeria’s model community; beautiful, and attractive. We cannot afford to drag it down. The Lagos State Government has a responsibility to halt its further degeneration. It should prevent chaos and health hazards. Saving Ikoyi will also be part of Nigeria’s contribution to reversing the calamitous trajectory of global climate change. If Ikoyi suffers decline, it would be said of us that we have dragged it down to our level. The richness or emptiness of our souls would be measured by the devastation that may overtake the settlement and not by the richness of a developing jungle of concrete–if steps are not taken now to stem the decline. The trees, the forest, the green and the esthetics these give to the town must return.
The Guardian
