Story highlights In 2016 Onitsha was the most polluted city in the world, according to WHO
Tweet of Nigerian man organizing a litter pick went viral
Lagos (CNN) A Tweet of Nigerian man Christopher Anaekwe, 28, picking up trash recently went viral.
While a commendable, community-spirited deed, it's not exactly the sort of act you'd think would get thousands of likes and shares.
However, the city Anaekwe lives in -- Onitsha in southern Nigeria -- has been labeled the most polluted on Earth. Many roads are smothered in waste. The air is thick with toxic pollutants (PM10).
Anaekwe had organized a group of teenagers to clear the trash-laden streets in their local neighbourhood. The action of community goodwill received plaudits on the internet.
Chris Anaekwe and his team clean up the gutters in Onitsha.
"Onitsha is very dirty. I don't think government is doing anything in the state to stop that," Anaekwe told CNN. "The rate at which people are dumping refuse inside the gutters is very alarming."
Ajj360 on February 22nd, 2018 at 00:54 UTC »
I saw a documentary where people living in Lagos slums were literally using garbage to create more land on the lake to build their shacks on.
thesecretsofnothing on February 21st, 2018 at 23:12 UTC »
It's a worthy effort but what they don't go into is people actively bring the trash from the dump areas back near their living areas to salvage stuff, make stuff, sell stuff. It's a societal issue not a clean up issue sadly.
Stuntfluffy on February 21st, 2018 at 21:07 UTC »
That's awesome, and to think I get a small ego Chubby when I pick up a plastic bottle