海角大神

Ugonna Nkemjika is reading aloud from a storybook as a classroom of rapt children follows along. When she turns the page to an illustration of a river clogged with plastic bottles, a student鈥檚 hand shoots up.

鈥淵es, Blessing?鈥� Ms. Nkemjika says to the girl.

鈥淚s this our river?鈥� the girl replies.

Ms. Nkemjika nods, and the room falls silent. The students, who attend Catholic Comprehensive High School on the outskirts of Abeokuta in Nigeria鈥檚 southwestern Ogun state, have crossed the Ogun River countless times. Some have fetched water from the river; others have watched fishers cast their nets into it. Yet for many of the students, this is the first time they are being asked to reckon with the peril their river is in 鈥� and how they can help.

Ms. Nkemjika is a volunteer with Project Conserve Ogun River (COR). 鈥淭he Loud Cry of Ogun River,鈥� the book open on the students鈥� desks, seeks to explain the river鈥檚 decline in terms children can absorb. Solomon Ekundayo, who founded Project COR and wrote the book, believes training adults to protect their natural resources is vital but that teaching children will yield results for generations to come.

鈥淲hen children learn about conservation, they carry it home,鈥� Mr. Ekundayo says. 鈥淭hey question their parents. They challenge what feels normal. Over time, that knowledge becomes culture.鈥�

鈥淢ore plastic than fish鈥�

The Ogun is Nigeria鈥檚 fifth-longest river. It stretches nearly 480 kilometers (298 miles), beginning in Oyo state and running through the Ogun region before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean via the Lagos Lagoon. In addition to fishing, residents use the river for irrigating crops, drinking, and bathing.聽

As a child, Mr. Ekundayo regularly crossed the Ogun River with his mother, watching fishers ply their trade and kids play along its banks. But his understanding of conservation did not come until much later, after he began studying geology at Ahmadu Bello University and embarked on an externship involving freshwater conservation. As part of the program, supported by the National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy, he was asked to study a river system, and thought immediately of home.

But when he returned to the Ogun River, he barely recognized it. The water was darker and filled with plastic waste and untreated sewage. Fishing activity had plummeted, and in some areas, the stench alone kept people away.

鈥淚 saw more plastic than fish,鈥� Mr. Ekundayo recalls.

Ogar Monday

Solomon Ekundayo (at far right) and volunteers conduct a cleanup in Abeokuta, Nigeria.

Studies show contaminants in the Ogun River often exceed safe limits, endangering the health of riverside communities. Aquatic life has been degraded, and the river鈥檚 natural ability to regulate flooding has been weakened.

鈥淩ivers contaminated with untreated sewage and industrial waste become vectors for disease,鈥� says M Isho Check, a public health expert based in Abuja. 鈥淭his is worse for children.鈥�

In late 2022, Mr. Ekundayo launched Project COR. From the outset, he thought that river cleanups alone would not be enough. The deeper challenge, he believed, was environmental literacy.聽

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 connect dumping waste into the river with illness or flooding,鈥� he says. 鈥淣o one ever explained it to them in a way they can understand.鈥�

So Mr. Ekundayo turned to storytelling. He drafted the text for 鈥淭he Loud Cry of Ogun River鈥� and worked with Project COR volunteers to illustrate it. Throughout the book, the river speaks.聽

鈥淚 used to breathe the fresh air of mother nature,鈥� the river says in the expanded online version. 鈥淭here is so much joy in being wanted.鈥�

Child-friendly word puzzles reinforce key ideas, and concepts such as biodiversity are broken down into simple language. The book also weaves in Yoruba proverbs to pass conservation lessons on 鈥渋n a familiar cultural way,鈥� Mr. Ekundayo says. At the end, the book contains a pledge for students to sign, committing to environmental protection.

Saviour Iwezue, founder of Team Illuminate, an organization that is raising an army of young environmentalists across Nigeria, agrees with Project COR鈥檚 approach. She says many environmental campaigns fail because they overlook how behavior is formed.

鈥淐hildren should not be seen only as future leaders, but as also capable of influencing what happens around them today,鈥� Ms. Iwezue explains.聽

鈥淚f you want sustainable change, you change values,鈥� she adds. 鈥淎nd values are most malleable in childhood.鈥�

Teachers in Ogun state have noticed changes in students鈥� attitudes toward the river, thanks to Mr. Ekundayo鈥檚 book.

鈥淓xplaining [conservation and sustainability] used to be difficult because the children couldn鈥檛 easily relate,鈥� says Ashade Adepeju, a teacher at Catholic Comprehensive High School. 鈥淣ow they point at the illustrations and say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 our bridge!鈥� or 鈥楳y father fishes there!鈥欌��

Teenager Adebayo Firefunmi says he used to throw plastic pouches of water, commonly sold by Nigerian street vendors, into the river after drinking them. 鈥淓veryone did it,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut when I learned what plastic does to the river, I felt bad.鈥�

Now, he says, he discards trash responsibly and reminds his friends about the 鈥渢hree Rs of reduce, reuse, and recycle,鈥� when he sees them littering.

The community conversation

Project COR鈥檚 efforts include the wider community, too. The group鈥檚 volunteers have run campaigns to get residents to stop dumping waste into the river, and have set up informal dump sites that are easily accessible by shoppers at the popular riverside market. The group also has supported school environmental clubs and youth volunteer groups, many led by students who now organize cleanups themselves.

Mr. Ekundayo still crosses the Ogun River regularly. The fairly clear water he saw in his childhood hasn鈥檛 returned, but there is progress. On his most recent visit, he noticed something he hadn鈥檛 seen in years: fish swimming freely among the spindly reeds that hug the riverbank.聽