Thursday, January 15, 2009

. . . Little bits and pieces make a dump...


A sweet wrapper, pure water satchet/ bag, an empty plastic bottle, a banana peel, ice-cream/ yoghurt packs, nylon bags, stale food, littledisposal bags consciously dropped at the centre of two-way road awaiting a selfless official from the Lagos State Waste Management Authority(LAWMA), etc- and then the icing on the cake comes in the forms of chickens and a rabid dog rumaging through the 'bounty'- all in a large high heap! You dont want to know the content of
the next heap just a few blocks up the street. This is the view from a lot of windows in Lagos-
Who is guilty? Who droppd these?

Open toilets spreading its putrifying stench, blocked drainage pipes, gutter-cum-waste disposal units, bubbling spyrogira-filled puddles from open drainages, filled and over-flowing bins and waste disposal units, obese street rats who neither fear man nor foe but stand boldy before you staring you in the eye even as you approach them, naked wires, pools of corrosive urine in the street corners and beside long time packed up vehicles especially in motor parks slowly corroding the tires. Infected sores, mosquito infestations and infections, poor ventilation, etc..all in the same neighborhood. How could this be? No wonder the houses are cheap and they say we live in the slums. Whose fault is this/what the government doing?


In the need to blame soemone,we blame the government but whose fault is it really?


If you have ever dropped a sweet wrapper on the street;



If you have ever stopped to wee in the gutter, on the street, by a wall, on the tire of a parked vehicle;



If you have ever refused to dispose of your waste properly;



If you have never taken part in environmental sanitation;



If you have ever thrown something in a gutter;



If your restaurant/bucker/kiosk/shed/telephone boot is by an open gutter;



Then the fault is yours- not the government or God. For every sweet/ biscuit wrapper, puere water pack, empty bottle, polythene, scratched recharge cards, gala meat packs, orange and banana peel etc, in the street is an invitation to someone else to add to the pile.



Start immediately by putting the sweet wrapper in your pockets or held back in your grip to be thrown in at the next proper waste disposal that comes your way. Who says naija can not be as clean and good as the cities we see in the tube. . . ?!




If Obama says we can. . . then...YES WE CAN MAKE NAIJA ESPECIALLY LAGOS CLEAN!

8 comments:

LG said...

YES WE CAN'

bumight said...

yes we can.

Lagos is changing though, i noticed a whole lot of positive things during the christmas break. hope they can keep it up!

m1ke said...

We can!!! I believe it will take a collective effort of the government and the entire populace. A explicit and nice piece

theicequeen said...

OMG!! this thought was in my head on the way to school today. I just noticed how much rubbish there was everywhere, bottles, food packets, ciggarette butts, bottles and on and on..and i was like, hmm, what sorta government is this that they let the city be like this? and then immediately one visual popped up in my head of the police physically making people not to litter, and it was too ridiculous!

People make the place dirty or clea, they are the ones who choose to litter or not to. So people should learn to stop blaming the government and waiting for the government to do things that are really everyones responsibility..shuo, if a person has the sense to throw stuff on the road, then they should have the sense to enjoy the sight! :P

good one!

Beulah! said...

eXACTLY!

Unknown said...

LG: O YES WE CAN!!!

@BUMIGHT: WEEEELLLL YEAH...IT IS CHANGING BUT IT CULD BE DAT THE HARMATTAN WINDS BLEW THE DIRTS INTO UNSEEN PLACES OR THE POPULATION REDUCTION DURIN D PERIODS REDUCED THE WASTE...LOL..ANYWAY..IM POSITIVE..WIT BROS FASH TEARIN DOWN KIOSKS & D LIKES...YES WE CAN!

@MIKE: THANKS..I GUESS A LIL FUN PIECE HERE THEN A CORRECTIVE PIECE THERE...

@THEICEQUEEN: I TINK D GOVT IS RILY TRYIN BUH WE GATSTO HAVE A HYGIENE CULTURE...IF A WOMAN FEELS COMFY SELLING AKARA BESIDE AN INCINERATOR IN OSHODI, SHE DEFINITELY WONT MIND CREATING ONE AROUND HER...E GO BETTER

Enkay said...

Yes indeed we can! It starts with us...one person at a time.

I personally find it difficult to drop stuff out there on the floor. I think it's about the mindset. If you're clean in your mind, then you'll be clean outwardly too!

Afronuts said...

AAARrrrrgghhh!!!

Is that really Lagos?
Oh my goodness...oh mi goowdniss!!

Thank Goodness i always keep my litter in my pocket till i get home...I'd feel guilty