In an era when corporate environmental commitments are often measured by reports, publicity campaigns and photographs from ceremonial tree-planting events, a different picture emerged in Wasa and Takushara communities, where the Managing Director of Steron Group, Abubakar Sadiq Omar, mni, personally planted 20 trees during an environmental exercise.
The exercise, organised by the Steron Community Development Foundation in partnership with The Ebaidebheke Initiative (TEI), saw 100 seedlings planted across the two communities as part of the “Befriend a Tree” initiative.
But beyond the number of seedlings put into the soil, the participation of the Steron Group chief executive became a defining moment of the exercise.
Rather than remaining at the sidelines of the event, Omar joined other participants in planting the seedlings, personally putting 20 trees into the ground.
For Ebaide Omiunu, Executive Director of TEI, who documented the experience in a tribute titled “Roots That Remember: A Tribute to Abubakar Sadiq Omar, mni,” the action represented something deeper than a ceremonial environmental activity.
Omiunu said she had initially received an invitation from the Steron Community Development Foundation to join the tree-planting exercise and immediately accepted because the proposal was about building something collectively rather than simply seeking assistance from her organisation.
She said her perception of the partnership had also been influenced by what she had previously heard about Omar’s environmental practices at one of his mining sites.
According to her, Omar had made a commitment to ensure that waste generated from the mining operation was properly separated for recycling, describing the decision as significant because it was not, in her account, prompted by a regulatory demand or publicity consideration.
For Omiunu, the approach suggested that environmental responsibility was being incorporated into the company’s operations.
The significance of that perception became clearer during the tree-planting exercise when Omar physically participated in the work.
Omiunu recalled watching him kneel down, place a seedling in the earth and press the soil around it.
She said the experience was particularly memorable because she had encountered organisations that participated in environmental activities mainly for publicity, but found the Steron Community Development Foundation’s approach different.
According to her, Omar told participants that trees were not planted for the shade of those putting them into the ground, but for the benefit of people they might never meet.
That statement, she said, offered a powerful description of what environmental legacy should mean.
A tree planted today may take years to mature, meaning that the people who eventually benefit from its shade and ecological value may have no connection with the person who planted it.
The exercise in Wasa and Takushara therefore raises a broader question about the relationship between business activity and environmental responsibility, particularly in sectors such as mining where economic activities depend directly on natural resources.
Mining generates economic value from resources beneath the earth, but it can also raise concerns about waste management, land degradation and the long-term environmental condition of host communities.
Against that background, the decision to combine waste management practices with tree planting presents an example of how environmental responsibility can extend beyond compliance to practical interventions within communities.
The 100 seedlings planted during the exercise may appear modest when considered against Nigeria’s wider environmental challenges, but their importance lies partly in what happens after the ceremony.
Trees require sustained care and protection to survive. Their environmental value is realised over time through vegetation restoration, shade, soil protection, carbon absorption and support for biodiversity.
This means the real measure of the exercise will ultimately be determined by how many of the seedlings survive and grow into mature trees.
It also places responsibility on the participating organisations and communities to protect the trees beyond the day they were planted.
For TEI, the initiative demonstrated the value of partnerships that bring corporate leadership, civil society and local communities together around environmental action.
Omiunu said she left Wasa and Takushara satisfied not only because 100 trees had been planted, but because she had witnessed the personal involvement of a corporate leader who, in her assessment, understood the importance of investing in something whose full benefits may not be enjoyed by the planter.
The symbolism is particularly strong in an economy where natural resources are frequently discussed in terms of what can be extracted from the earth.
The trees represent the opposite movement: putting something back.
While minerals and other resources may generate immediate economic value when extracted, a tree represents a slower form of wealth — one that grows with time and whose benefits can extend across generations.
It is this idea that gives Omar’s 20 trees a meaning beyond the tree-planting event itself.
Buildings can carry names, titles can change hands and achievements can eventually become historical records, but a tree continues to grow without requiring recognition.
Years from now, someone may stand beneath one of those trees without knowing the identity of the person who first placed it in the soil.
For Omiunu, that possibility is what makes the planting an expression of genuine legacy.
Nigeria’s environmental challenges require sustained action from government, businesses, civil society organisations and communities. No single tree-planting exercise can resolve the country’s environmental problems, just as recycling alone cannot address the wider pressures facing the environment.
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But individual actions can become part of a broader culture of environmental responsibility when they are sustained, replicated and connected to community needs.
The Wasa and Takushara exercise offers one such example.
The 100 seedlings represent a collective intervention,
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