Govt Should Renew Waste Management Strategy to Boost Revenue, Says Coker
Mr. Olumide Coker, the Country Leader, Let’s Do It Foundation, Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, tells Bennett Oghifo he wants the government to increase its revenue base through better waste management strategy
What is your non-Governmental Organisation, Let’s Do It Foundation about?
The Lets Do it World movement began in the small Northern European tech-savvy country of Estonia in 2008, when 50,000 people came together to clean up the entire country in just five hours. Technology created by former Skype chief architect and co-founder of Starship Technologies, Ahti Heinla, enabled the organising team to map more than 10,000 trash points before the cleanup and arrange the work of 50,000 volunteers. Together, they collected more than 10,000 tons of mismanaged waste from the nature and public areas. The aim of the World Cleanup Day is to move towards better waste handling, by raising awareness, through direct engagement, both locally and globally. And more importantly, to support and connect a new generation of community leaders ready to act together to find lasting solutions. Alongside the very real result of cleaner cities, parks, beaches and forests, these cleanups help to bring the effects of current waste mismanagement into focus and raise discussion on how to keep it clean in the future.
Do other NGOs collaborate with your foundation, in what capacity? World Cleanup Day was created to join the efforts of organisations working towards a cleaner world. It is possible to create lasting change in our waste creation and management practices through co-operation of everyone. In Nigeria, World Cleanup Day was organised in partnership with organisations like JCI, ACT Foundation, Pick That Trash, Eco Warrior, SustyVibes, Taxify, NYSC etc. These organisations came together to campaign against waste mismanagement in totality.
The World Clean Up Day took place on September 15. Give us the background of this historic event
World Cleanup Day is being propelled by the civic movement, Let’s do it! World, which has been initiating cleanup actions across 113 countries throughout the last decade, with over 20 million volunteers. But the day itself is a joint effort organised in partnership with hundreds of other organisations and initiatives on a local and global level. Through research, our team, made up of experts in environmental management, have discovered that improperly disposed waste often ends up in our drainages, body of water and oceans. It is estimated that 80 percent of the waste floating around in oceans comes from land, entering the sea through our beaches and drainages. Therefore, working together on land with community leaders, governments, organisations and other stakeholders is the first urgent step in protecting nature, both on land and at sea. Our aim is to move towards better waste handling by raising awareness, through direct engagement, both locally and globally to tackle the root cause.
What exactly did you do on that day? We drew attention to littering, trash blindness and general mismanagement of waste in Nigeria. Cleanups are not meant to replace regular waste management. Waste collection has to be established everywhere. It’s not waste until it’s wasted. We should realise that we are throwing away resources without recognising their potential gain. Volunteers and organisations from various sectors were able to remove hazards connected to waste and simply made such places look nicer. They were able to draw attention to the waste problem in Nigeria, fight and overcome trash blindness. People became more aware of the issues and are ready to change their behaviour and support the change, dedicated policies and regulation by governments and local authorities. We did not only pick up trash, but also