The Desert is Encroaching: 70 year old Nigerian Environmentalist Drives Across the Sahara Desert to Raise Public Awareness

When 70 year old Newton Jibunoh, a Nigerian engineer and delta chief, decided to navigate the Sahara desert in a transcontinental trip from Lagos to London, by road, most would either conclude “he’s mentally unhinged, or has something within that compels him”, particularly given where he comes from - a place where “the average 70 year old blocks the street to celebrate the birthday [parties]“, using the words of the Nigerian talk-show host Funmi Iyanda .

The truth is Newton is not only mentally stable, but much more socially conscious than most people. He is an environmental crusader trying to raise awareness on desertification/environmental degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa. And he has ridden across the Sahara desert twice in the past.

When the first trip was made 42 year ago, he was just a youthful exuberance, a young student in London look for adventure. By the time he made the second trip, the seed of social advocacy had well germinated within; the mission was different. Below is an excerpt of one his experiences then:

Desert hallucinations…
Moments when I questioned my own sanity. Being alone and the grueling experience fuelled that. Also I had to stop listening to the radio because it made me aware of how far away I was. It was then that I truly realized I was depriving myself and it was like living outside of the world as I knew it. I wondered why I had brought that upon myself. A lot of times I was close to tears listening to events on the radio. It added to my hallucinations and the things that I saw and heard that were not there. There were also the difficulties with logistics, battery going flat, tyres going burst, but those were expected and one was able to attend to them. But the other challenges like hallucination, nothing prepares you for that

While the first and second trips were made alone, the third Lagos-London-across-the-Sahara expedition was much more publicized and elaborately planned. Chief Jibunoh is traveling in a ‘caravan’ of three SUVs and with a crew composing a journalist, film maker, mechanic and an IT specialist.

Chief Newton Jibunoh, founder of the NGO, the Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE), is the author of, “Me, My Desert and I”, a summary of his second journey across the Sahara.

Readers can follow his expedition here: http://www.fadeafrica.org/greendesert/, and Sand Song blog

This is a short clip of the “desert-man” on Funmi Iyanda’s New Dawn show:

Newton Jibunoh’s expedition sets off from Lagos on Sunday March 9, 2008 and will last sixty days. His expedition team members are Afam Ugah, IT specialist; Joshua Adegbaju, Auto Mechanic; Ebun Olatoye, Journalist; Kelechi Amadi-Obi, Photographer; and Titi Laoye, Film Maker.