Writer, artistes, others join CATE and Waka-about to clean beach

By ADA DIKE

It was an exciting experience for hundreds of beach Samaritans that attended cleanup exercise at Okun Alfa Beach in the Lekki area of Lagos, on Saturday, October 18, 2014.

Ada Dike (Me) as one one the beach Samaritans that cleaned Alfa Beach, Lagos on Saturday, October 18, 2014

Tagged: “Stage a Rebellion against Trash - Raise Your Voice, Not The Sea Level!” it was put together by Children And The Environment (CATE), foremost Nigerian non-governmental oragnisation (NGO), which focuses on creating environmental health awareness and promoting eco-tourism amongst young people, in partnership with Waka-about Media, publishers and promoters of culture and tourism in Nigeria.

Even the resident in the beach community attested that the exercise was the biggest and most innovative event they have witnessed so far this year as the participants who were divided into five groups used cleaning tools such as rakes, brooms, cellophane bags and so on, to clean the surroundings of the beach.

Among the beach Samaritans included Nigeria’s celebrated young authors, Iquo DianaAbasi Eke; General Manager of Radio One 103. 5FM, Funke-Treasure Durodola and many artistes including dance crew, Team Pyramid X, led by Umar Salihu that entertained everyone.

Daily Newswatch learnt that the “Let’s Cleanup and Greenup Okun Alfa Beach” is part of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of both partnering outfits.

Speaking with members of the media at the beach, the founder of Children And The Environment (CATE), Miss Sola Alamutu, said the exercise aims to educate participants on the need to help communities keep the beach clean and beautiful, and to guard against the negative effects arising from climate change, as well as ensure that these environments are sustainable and continue to serve as places both people and wildlife can use safely.

“For the past 15 years, I have been actively involved in projects that have to do with children and the environment. Incidentally, the idea came to me on October 18, 2008. Exactly six years later, that is today, October 18, 2014, we came to clean Alfa Beach.

“We have cleaned many streets of Lagos including areas such as Yaba, Mafoluku, Ogudu and other places.”

Explaining why she embarked on the project, Alamutu said, “I am an environmentalist. I grew up in Ikoyi, where we were always visiting beaches. When I visited a beach, I found out that the beach has washed off so I decided to do something about it by cleaning beaches,” she explained.

She advised Nigerians to keep their environments clean. “Stop throwing rubbish outside your vehicles. If you clean your home or your vehicles and leave your surrounding dirty, it means you are dirty.”

 

Some of the participants

Also in his comment, Publisher, WakaAbout Media, Pelu Awofeso, said

“I have wanted to clean the beach for four years now after I took an excursion to Badagry beach and I was shocked to see how dirty it was. A few weeks’ before that day, I took tourists to Ibereko beach and it was dirtier. I asked myself that if the community did not care about it, who will? Since that day, I began to nurture an idea about it.

“In 2012, we made an attempt to clean it, wrote a letter to Badagry Local Government Area but that project was frustrated. So I spoke to Miss Sola Alamutu. who is naturally into environmental protection and we decided not to look for support from any local government. We are doing it for the benefit of the community living around the beaches.”

Explaining why she participated in cleaning the beach, poet Iquo DianaAbasi Eke said “If you go around Lagos where I stay, you will see that people have non-chalant attitude towards cleaning their environment. Commuters throw dirt out of their vehicles on regular basis. If you caution them, they will tell you that they are not the only people throwing dirt from their vehicles. But you find out that the dirt is washed into the beaches, which make the beaches to look horrible. People come to the beach, they eat, drink and throw it into the water so I took part in this beach clean up so that people can learn from it,” Eke said.