By Mmedaramfon Umoren
Mesmerised by the increasing dirt in Lagos public beaches, Beach Samaritans continued its ‘rebellion against trash and raise your voice and not the sea level movement’ with its latest outing on Saturday, June 18.
The wind blowing vigorously and even waves coming from far, splashing bits of water could not deter the passionate and hardworking group from its agenda at the Gberefu Sea Beach, Badagry, penultimate Saturday.
It was not just the regular fun trip as many would assume, but a clean-up outing by a non-governmental organisation called Beach Samaritans who has great interest in the neatness of the environment.
This cleaning exercise of public beaches by Beach Samaritans is a community service initiative which began in August 2014 by Adesola Alamutu, Executive Director of Children And The Environment (CATE) and Pelu Awofeso, founder of Waka-about media and publisher of Waka-about magazine.
The exercise began with a speech by Alamatu, who stated that Lagos is blessed with numerous beaches which all need to be kept neat. She went on to explain that the exercise is bi-monthly and aimed at cleaning beaches in Lagos, with the hope that it would transcend Lagos to other parts of the country.
Director, Monument Management Tourism and Culture, Anthonia Johnson, representing Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Culture, Folorunsho Coker, who was the guest speaker at the occasion, expressed the ministry’s support for the group and said it would continue to give its support.
“I’m particularly delighted to see children volunteer to clean up. So, children, keep it up because you are the future. I hope that this exercise heralds beautiful beginnings in our beaches,” she added.
All the volunteers (Kids Clean Up and Beach Samaritans) were divided into seven colourful groups: red, blue, orange, green, brown, lemon and burgundy, to make the work more effective. Everyone exhibited a lot of hard work with their red rubber gloves on, rakes, shovels, brooms (to gather waste like nylons, water sachets, broken bottles, rags, juice packs and the likes together), and dustpans to pack them into the big black waste bags.
At the end of the exercise, the Administrator of the Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) that host the beach, was presented shovels, rakes and rubber gloves to aid members of the community in cleaning up as often as they can. Prior to this time, he had stated that he would ensure that people in that community came out en masse to keep the beach clean, at least once a month.
This is not the first time members of Beach Samaritans were making a difference in Lagos through their actions. They have been to other places like the Alpha Beach in Lekki, Regal Seaview Beach in Lekki, Ilashe beach, Ibeshe Beach and Tarkwa Bay.
However, not minding their looks and backgrounds, everyone got to work. At the end of the day, the participants all sang a similar tune. They had so much fun and were excited being part of the cleaning exercise, which will not only keep the environment clean, but would promote tourism and generate income for Nigeria.
One of the volunteers, Rukkayat Shuaib, said she was reluctant at first. but that at the end, she discovered that it was fun all through.
“A great opportunity to be a part of this exercise, with hardworking children who should be home playing involved in the project, it was a wonderful experience. I pray this continues, so that all our beaches can be clean at all times,” she said.
Another volunteer, Benedict Osuagwu, said he enjoyed and loved being a volunteer because it is a great initiative.
“When I see beaches in foreign movies and the ones in Nigeria, I feel ashamed, but with this project, beaches are headed for a change,” he added.