Four years ago, the UBA Foundation started planting trees in Nigerian schools. Nobody called it a movement then. It was a small program, a few saplings, a handful of students.
This June, the foundation returned to two of Lagos’ oldest schools — King’s College and CMS Grammar School in Bariga — to plant more trees. The event doubled as the launch of the foundation’s 2026 Tree Planting for Sustainability Initiative. The choice of schools was not random. Both institutions carry a weight of history. King’s College was founded in 1909. CMS Grammar School dates to 1859, the oldest secondary school in Nigeria. The foundation wanted institutions with the roots to keep a green project alive.
World Environment Day fell on June 5, as it does every year, coordinated by the United Nations. The 2026 theme was “Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future.” The UBA Foundation timed its planting to that global moment. The link is deliberate: a local act tied to a worldwide call.
Bola Atta runs the foundation. She is the Managing Director and CEO. She called the tree planting a strategic investment. Not in timber or shade, but in the minds of young people. “We want young people to understand that the environment needs our collective support and protection,” Atta said. She added that sustainable practices create healthier communities and a better future for all.
The foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa Group. That is a big bank. But the work on the ground is small and specific: digging holes, setting saplings, teaching students why it matters. The program targets schools across Nigeria. It aims to turn students into environmental ambassadors. Not in theory — in practice, by putting them next to a tree they helped plant.
This is the fourth year of the initiative. Four years is not a long time for a tree to grow. But it is long enough to see whether a program takes hold. The foundation says the effort has already shown promise in promoting environmental consciousness among young people. That is a measured claim. No grand pronouncements. Just evidence that something is working.
Lagos is a city of concrete and traffic. Green space is scarce. Trees in schoolyards do more than teach a lesson. They cool the air, break the noise, give students a place to stand that is not pavement. The foundation is betting that students who grow up around trees will protect them later.
The event at King’s College and CMS Grammar School was not a one-off. It is the beginning of a year’s work. More schools will follow. More trees will go into the ground. The foundation is not asking for applause. It is asking for continuity.
World Environment Day comes and goes every June. Most people do not notice. But in two old schoolyards in Lagos, students now have a tree that was not there before. That is the point. Not a speech. A sapling. Not a pledge. A shovel. The foundation is betting that small things, repeated over years, add up to something real.
