Nigeria joins historic World Cleanup Day

As a strategic move to align with over 150 countries which stand up against global waste and pollution challenges, Nigeria, last week, celebrated World Cleanup Day.

By this move, expectations are that the cleaning exercise will be extended to streets, parks, beaches, forests, and riversides among others.

Addressing journalists in Lagos on Saturday, last week, the team leader for World Cleanup Day in Nigeria, Mr Olumide Coker, said the campaign was an opportunity to increase waste entrepreneurs and employment in waste collection, recycling and composting.

According Coker, “It is better to see waste as resources and reduce government spending on waste management at dumpsites,” noting that wastes can be recycled to different products for human use.

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“This initiative should give a good basis for government to enforce enabling laws on environment. This is to guide against abuse of waste and also provide opportunities for entrepreneurs who can convert waste to economic activities to boost the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The aim of World Cleanup Day is not just to pick up waste, but also to raise awareness both locally and globally about the severity of the situation. The movement supports and connects a new generation of community leaders – ready to act together to find lasting solutions for the global waste problem,” he stated.

Alongside World Cleanup Day, he added that the movement is also releasing a ‘Keep It Clean Plan’ – a set of guidelines for a clean planet, aimed at governments, business, civil society and individuals.

He noted that cleaning beaches and public areas sounds like something that has been done before. “But our mission is not just about cleaning, but to actually stop this problem once and for all,” he said, adding that human beings are the only species who have managed to generate something that cannot be used by the rest of the ecosystem which is water, while 80 per cent of the plastic that floats in the oceans has come from land.

“Therefore, we need to start working hand-in-hand with local communities,” says Heidi Solba, one of the leaders of the “Let’s Do It” movement,which was part of the World Cleanup Day organising team.