PRESS RELEASE
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Natse, Totse and the clean up team
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It
was a beehive of activities at the Elegushi Beach side on Thursday, August 7,
2014 when the two young UK based Nigerian brothers, Natse (16 years)
and Totse (13 years old) Ayuli-Jemide launched their "Beach Clean-Up"
initiative at Elegushi
Beach in Lekki Area of Lagos State.
The
exercise, which lasted for over four hours, was rounded up with a passionate
appeal by the
brothers for Nigerians
to embrace sanitation as a culture to hold in high esteem. This is more
important now then ever before especially with the current Ebola scare, a
heightened awareness of personal and spatial sanitation is imperative as a way
of life for all Nigerians.
The
mother of the two young boys,
Mrs.
Winihin Ayuli-Jemide,
a reputable Horticulturist, committed
to building
this new sector in Nigeria, in
her opening address, praised the Lagos State
government for its
efforts to beautify Lagos and urged the administration to extend this to every
nook and cranny of the metropolis. She called
on Lagosians and indeed all
Nigerians to "complement
what our leaders are doing at the macro levels,
to beautify environments, at
the private and individual levels of the society".
The
young boys, described the exercise as very enlightening
and fun-filled.
They were particularly grateful to
their friends and the many volunteers
that came out en-masse to participate in the event.
They
gave out many dust bin baskets, disposable garbage bags as well
as tee-shirts to
participants and well-wishers, urging everyone to adopt habits that
will bring about clean environments especially in areas that are tourist attraction as this will, in many
ways, boost the economic fortune of the tourism sector.
The
boys described “health as wealth”. According to them, "Maintaining clean environments is a
sine-qua-non to healthy
living and this invariably impacts
positively on the socio-economic well being of our people".
They wish to continue this exercise as often as possible anytime they find themselves
in Nigeria during holidays or the Christmas
period. They hope the exercise becomes a lasting, memorable
occurrence that people come to expect and participate in.
They
lamented the insecurity that faces Nigeria as at present and urged those behind the
insurgency to sheath
their swords. In their words, “We hope to be able to carry out this exercise in
major cities of the six geo-political zones of Nigeria but we are handicapped
by the current insecurity which we hope would soon cease.
We are saddened by the rampart
killings in
Nigeria today. We call on all levels
of government and
the entire citizens of the country to please
join hands to put an end to this menace".
The boys were proud
of what they were able to accomplish with the Elegushi
Beach exercise. A resident of the community commented, "We are impressed by the
zeal of these young boys. The beach is looking so clean and appealing. A lot of
people will spend more time on the beach and patronise our little businesses if
it looked clean like this all the time."
Another
passer-by said "thank you Natse and Totse what an impressive
exercise". A guest and participant added "many young boys are so
pre-occupied by having fun. These two have managed to find the time to
contribute to society in this small but significant way.
I hope more young
people get involved in this campaign". Natse and Totse promised to mobilise
more youths, friends and volunteers to keep the campaign alive. The next exercise, which will hold, at another public location
in Nigeria, is
expected to take place
in the last quarter of the year.
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