The hometown of ex-deputy governor Kingsley Otuaro of Delta State, Okerenkoko Federated Community (OFC) in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of the State, under the executive leadership of its chairman, Hon. Shadrack Otuaro, has concluded plans to kickstart a tree planting and beautification project in the riverine community.

According to the General-Secretary of OFC, Mr. Andrew Bebenimibo, the programme tagged 'Okerenkoko Beautification Project Phase 1' and slated for Sunday, August 27, 2023, is to among other objectives, complement the efforts of the former deputy governor in attracting development to the community and wade against the effects of environmental pollution.

"This project is aimed at bringing back the lost beauty of Okerenkoko environment," the executive leadership stated in a document detailing the purpose of the phase 1 of the project. 

"The essence of this project is to plant varieties of trees in the community to complement on the development strides by the past administration which our son served in as the Deputy Governor of the state.

"Okerenkoko Federated Community is surrounded by oil exploration firms involved in gas flaring. Flaring gas into the atmosphere, as we all know, has its negative effects on the inhabitants and the environment. This project is thus aimed at combating the effects of environmental pollution.

"The Hon. Shadrack Otuaro-led executives find this project essential to life and to our environment, hence the initiation of the planting of trees," the document reads.

Also highlighting some of the other benefits of planting trees, the executive stated that trees help "combat global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide, removing and storing carbon while releasing oxygen back to the air; reduce wind speeds and cool the air..." with estimate showing that “trees can reduce temperature in a city to 7⁰C,” it added.

Others it said include health-related benefits such as the improvement of "air quality by intercepting and trapping dusts and other pollutants from the air; the shades of trees provide a useful barrier to harmful ultra-violet radiation from the sun," and trees "help control erosion" by breaking down rain water into droplets thereby weakening "their strength" just as tree “roots hold the soil together and protect it from effects of wind.”

It would be recalled that a neighbouring community, Kunukunuma Federated Community, some months ago, witnessed a devastating wind storm that destroyed a lot of properties running into millions of naira. The incident had brought to the fore the need for riverine communities to guard against the felling of trees indiscriminately, leading to deforestation due to expansion occasioned from housing development needs.

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