By Abasi Ita
A Professor of Environmental Management at the University of Calabar, Professor Elizabeth Andrew Essien, has drawn attentions to the growing environmental crisis in the country and the urgent need for sustainable use of natural resources.
Professor Andrew Essien made the presentation while delivering the 161st inaugural lecture of the University of Calabar.
The lecture, titled “Chop, Remain, E Get Why,” explored the tension between human consumption and environmental conservation using a popular Nigerian pidgin expression to simplify the complex subject for ordinary citizens.
Addressing members of the university community, including principal officers, members of Senate and invited guests, the scholar explained that the phrase captures the importance of balancing resource utilisation with environmental preservation for future generations.
According to her, “Chop” represents the natural use of environmental resources for survival, growth and development.
She warned, however, that consumption becomes destructive when driven by excessive materialism, waste and unhealthy competition rather than genuine human needs.
“When this necessary use is displaced by socially produced desires, acquisition, display and waste become ends in themselves. Detached from the responsibility to remain within ecological limits, consumerism becomes a major driver of environmental degradation,” she said.
Professor Andrew Essien explained that “Remain” symbolises the responsibility to preserve natural resources and ecological systems for generations yet unborn, while “E Get Why” underscores the need to confront the environmental consequences of unchecked consumption.
The environmental expert stressed that environmental challenges require collective responsibility, cooperation and accountability from both government and citizens.
She urged society to stop measuring progress solely through material accumulation and instead prioritise sustainability, resilience and ecological well being.
“Today, I invite you into a conversation that is as typically Nigerian as it is global and as ancient as it is present,” she stated.
The lecture, which was the first inaugural lecture from the Department of Environmental Management and the fourth from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, examined the relationship between consumer behaviour and environmental sustainability through the lens of systems theory and ecological economics.
Professor Andrew Essien concluded with a call for wiser management of natural resources.
“We must chop with wisdom and ensure that resources remain for generations yet unborn. E get why sustainability matters because we do not secure the future by consuming more, but by preserving wisely,” she said.