Onitsha, Nigeria, is one of the world's most polluted cities.

And according to a previous report from the World Health Organization, the air quality in that region is among the poorest in the world. And air quality isn't the only issue that they allegedly face, as the environment in that region is also said to be grossly polluted with garbage that litters the streets, and blocks drains etc.

Some people in the region are finally realizing that the government isn't going to address the problem. And one local man there, who is fed up with waiting on someone else to tackle the issue, took it upon himself to try and inspire change.

28-year-old Chris Anaekwe took the time to try and educate locals in his community about getting involved to try and make changes themselves, to tackle the garbage as best that they could.

Anaekwe ended-up inspiring a group of teenagers to join him on his effort to clean-up his community.

Even having to work with what he described as a swollen arm, which made it no-doubt more difficult, that didn't stop him from trying to set an example and possibly inspire others to make a change.

He was allegedly hoping that he could teach his community that they can have a role in keeping it clean.

They could simply decide to make the decision to start contributing and cleaning if they wanted to, and so they did. Anaekwe says that he doesn't want those in his community to sit around and just wait for the government to do something.

However, that's exactly what a great deal of people are content with doing. They firmly believe that it is the government's responsibility to maintain the cleanliness and address any issues, so they aren't likely to be inspired to take it upon themselves to sacrifice their time to tackle the mess.

Unfortunately, for those who are waiting on the government to solve their problem, they might find that they are going to be waiting a very long time. The government doesn't pay the price when that community falls into disrepair, they are clearly less motivated to address any issues than those who live directly in the vicinity.

At first, Anaekwe admits that he had a bit of difficulty in trying to persuade people to get involved. Despite the difficulty and reluctance at first though, he kept reiterating the message that if they wanted someone else to clean it, then perhaps they should lead by example and clean it first. And it worked.

These kids demonstrated that it is possible to try and bring about change with a voluntary effort and that they don't need to resort to violence in order to try and address the issue. People were persuaded because they thought it was a good idea to get involved; they didn't need to force people in the community to take action.

Pics:
Pixabay
via Facebook
Hadassah Egbedi via the Guardian

Sources:
http://allthatsinteresting.com/onitsha-most-polluted-cities-in-the-world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_polluted_cities_by_particulate_matter_concentration
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/13/polluted-onitsha-nigeria-perpetual-dust-city-world-worst-air
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=934779413356235&id=100004725556179
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/feb/08/nigerian-cleanup-polluted-city-onitsha-chris-junior-anaekwe
https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/31/africa/nigeria-cities-pollution/index.html

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