The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has urged Lagosians to support the government efforts at preserving the environment by planting trees.

Sanwo-Olu made the appeal during the kick-off of the 1,000 Tree Planting Project in Lagos, tagged ‘The Evergreen Project Lagos’, a brainchild of Miss Naita Gupta of the African Steel Evergreen Project.

He reiterated the state government’s commitment through Lagos State Parks and Gardens to reducing carbon footprint in order to preserve the environment for future generations.

He said the government had been committed to tree planting since 2008, and that over eight million trees had been planted in the last 13 years.

The governor, who expressed his administration’s commitment to preserving the environment for future generations, said 60,000 trees had been planted across different locations in the state during his tenure.

He also commended the Gupta family for the tree planting initiative and urged other residents of the state to join the efforts for more trees to be planted in the state.

Sanwo-Olu, who planted a tree during the event, said, “I want to ask everyone to push and encourage laudable initiatives like this so that we can preserve our Lagos.

“We can preserve a place where we all call home and we can ensure that the future that is in the hands of teenagers who are here today is secured. We should plant more trees to save the environment.”

Speaking earlier, Gupta said her Geography class contributed to her interest in Lagos.

She said the tree planting initiative commenced on December 17, with the aim of planting 1,000 trees across Lagos before the end of this year.

She said, “I strongly believe a sustainable future is the only future. We at ASTEP aim to plant at least 1,000 trees before the end of the year. We aim to create a Lagos for coming generations, with cleaner air to breathe. We aim to give back to mother earth what we have taken from it.

“Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria, the giant of Africa. As proud as we are of this, we cannot overlook the resultant pollution levels. It is no secret that trees act as a carbon sponge in our atmosphere. By reducing the CO2 concentration and increasing the O2, we are creating a cleaner and less polluted atmosphere for ourselves and future generations. We are creating a Lagos which we can be even prouder of. This is my goal for the beautiful state I call my home.”