Nigeria: Volunteers brave the rain to commemorate World Cleanup Day

Despite the pouring rain in Nigeria, over a dozen dedicated volunteers came together on Saturday to participate in a special event commemorating World Cleanup Day.

Nigeria faces a staggering challenge, with an estimated annual production of more than 2 million tonnes of plastic waste, with plastic constituting 15% of the total waste generated in Lagos State alone.

SustyVibes, a prominent environmental advocacy group, led volunteers to a notoriously littered market in Lagos to help address the issue.

Local environmental activist and SustyVibes project manager, Sonia Ugwunna, emphasized that plastic pollution is one of Nigeria’s most pressing environmental concerns.

“What we do is very important because the environment belongs to everyone, and the environment needs champions like us,” she said.

World Cleanup Day serves as a global rallying point, uniting millions of environmental enthusiasts, governments, and corporations in a joint effort to combat the worldwide crisis of mismanaged waste.

“I am very happy that they came to our market today to clean it up and they spoke to us about keeping our surroundings clean,” fish vendor Adijat Obe said.

World Cleanup Day is observed annually on the third Saturday of September, calling upon volunteers to clean up their neighbourhoods and surrounding areas, emphasizing the importance of collective action for a cleaner, healthier environment.