LBS, Coca Cola, Others Deepen Support for ‘Water for Sustainable Development’

• LBS, Coca Cola, Others Deepen Support for ‘Water for Sustainable Development’

Considering the importance of water to human lives, plants, agricultural, industries and other uses, Lagos Business School’s First Bank Sustainability Centre, Coca-Cola and other corporate partners, hosted a symposium that brought various stakeholders within the water ecosystem together to educate Nigerians various ways for water sustainability and uses.

Speaking on Water for Sustainable Development 2017, Head, Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Lagos Business School, Prof. Chris Ogbechie, said that this symposium has been designed to bring together business leaders, representatives of corporations, water and environmental specialists, academics, students, government agencies, policy makers, regulators, CSR and environmental sustainability executives to understand and appreciate policy measures, actions, and means of implementation of the water sustainable development goal and its targets.

He further said that, as an institution, Lagos Business School strives to champion sustainability by providing a platform for different stakeholders to come together to have conversations on how we can preserve our world for future generations. So by putting this forum together in partnership with Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, we expect that the discussions will help spur innovative thinking, creative ideas, forge partnerships which will drive systemic and sustainable environmental solutions.

Ogbechie said that water is life and is crucial to poverty eradication, gender equality, food security and sustainable agriculture, health, sanitation, sustainable industry, sustainable consumption and production, tourism, and sustainable urbanization, among others.

He stressed further that in adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the vital importance of water and sanitation was highlighted by incorporating a standalone sustainable development goal on water.

In addition, Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Coca-Cola West Africa Business Unit, Mr Clem Ugorji, while narrating the importance of responsible use of water at levels of society spoke the importance of ‘golden triangle’ partnerships of government, industry and civil society in pursuance of the SDGs in Nigeria. “He cited what the beverage company, which relies primarily on clean water for its business is doing internally and externally to promote sustainable use of water resources”.

Ugorji, who said that water adequacy is crucial not only for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses but also for averting water-related social instability.