To mark World Environment Day 2025, The Ebaidebheki Initiative (TEI), a female-led nonprofit organization focused on sustainability education and climate advocacy, launched two major initiatives aimed at tackling environmental challenges through youth empowerment and innovation.
The first of the two new projects is The Green Squad, an environmental leadership club introduced in secondary schools across Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The club is designed to cultivate young climate champions by integrating sustainability practices into students’ everyday learning. Through a mix of hands-on projects, challenges, and mentorship, TEI hopes to transform concern about climate change into real action starting from the classroom.
At the launch event, TEI co-founder Ebaide emphasized the importance of youth in environmental advocacy. “We cannot win the fight for our planet without the voices, energy, and creativity of young people,” she said. “The Green Squad gives them a platform to lead, innovate, and inspire change right where they are.”
In addition to the Green Squad, TEI also introduced its Plastic Innovation Project. This campaign focuses on identifying and supporting homegrown solutions to plastic pollution in Nigeria and across Africa. TEI plans to partner with innovators, recyclers, and tech startups to set up innovation hubs and competitions that encourage creative reuse of plastic waste—from eco-friendly building materials like eco-bricks to wearable art made from recycled materials.
Both initiatives reflect TEI’s commitment to grassroots climate action, with young people at the center. At a time when Nigeria faces growing threats from environmental degradation and plastic pollution, TEI’s dual launches call on stakeholders in government, business, and civil society to invest in solutions led by youth and driven by local innovation.
