Zaria: An NGO, Women Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE), has urged youths to transform climate concerns into practical solutions capable of improving livelihoods and protecting the environment. Mrs. Olanike Olugboji-Daramola, Executive Director of WISE, made the call in Zaria during the ECOCARE Initiative 2026 awareness workshop and briquette production training.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the programme was organised by WISE in partnership with the Energy and Environmental Law Club of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. Olugboji-Daramola emphasized the importance of young people overcoming climate anxiety by developing solutions to environmental challenges rather than dwelling on the problems confronting society. She highlighted that climate change poses a significant threat, already affecting communities, destroying livelihoods, and impacting lives across the country.
The programme was designed to raise awareness, provide knowledge, and equip participants with practical skills to address climate and environmental challenges. It brought together youths and women from communities around Zaria to empower them as environmental stewards contributing to climate action.
‘We have come today to enlighten them, equip them with knowledge and information, and then move on to training that will equip them with skills,’ Olugboji-Daramola said. The initiative also introduced participants to energy transition, particularly clean cooking, as a step towards addressing deforestation and global warming. She explained that forests serve as carbon sinks and that continuous destruction through reliance on firewood contributes to global warming.
Olugboji-Daramola encouraged young people to adopt cleaner cooking methods, noting that simple changes in everyday practices could significantly contribute to environmental protection. She stated that improved cookstoves could reduce household spending on cooking fuel by 30 to 50 percent, and in some cases, as much as 80 percent. Savings from cleaner cooking could be redirected toward other household needs, benefiting entire families.
She rejected the notion that clean cooking initiatives were solely for women, emphasizing that the benefits extend to men, children, and households in general. ‘When a woman cooks in the home, everyone eats, everyone benefits,’ she said, stressing that environmental sustainability requires collective responsibility. Olugboji-Daramola also encouraged young men to actively participate in environmental initiatives, viewing women’s empowerment as a partnership between men and women.
The organisation’s programmes are inclusive, she noted, and men who acquire knowledge through the initiative are encouraged to share it with other men and communities. Sustainability, according to Olugboji-Daramola, would require participants to take ownership of the knowledge and skills acquired while developing practical solutions that could attract financing. She urged young people to explore energy-efficient cookstoves, cleaner fuels, and innovative financing models to expand climate solutions within their communities.
Olugboji-Daramola reaffirmed WISE’s commitment to supporting participants beyond the training and helping them replicate the initiative across various communities. Earlier, Hasheer Hamzat, Chairman of the Energy and Environmental Law Club, stated that the ECOCARE Initiative emerged from a shared commitment to practical environmental sustainability.
Hamzat said the partnership combined WISE’s environmental and community development experience with the club’s expertise in environmental law, advocacy, education, and student engagement. The collaboration aims to promote environmental responsibility, sustainability education, practical skills, and community participation. Environmental protection, according to Hamzat, requires both knowledge of the law and practical solutions that communities can adopt in their everyday lives.
Hamzat explained that briquette production demonstrated how environmental law could move beyond classrooms into practical action addressing waste management, pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Briquettes can convert certain waste or biomass materials into alternative fuel sources, potentially reducing dependence on firewood and other traditional fuels. The training illustrated the connection between environmental regulation, sustainable development, climate action, and community-level solutions.
Hamzat added that the Energy and Environmental Law Club would sustain the initiative through continued environmental education, advocacy, and awareness activities within the university and surrounding communities. He noted that WISE was providing the technical expertise for the briquette-production component, while the club contributed student engagement and environmental advocacy.