Mushin To The World (MTTW), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has enjoined youths from Mushin, a suburb of Lagos, to imbibe the culture of environmental sustainability in all their dealings.
Mr Babatunde Enitan, Founder, MTTW, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of a clean-up organised by the African Clean-up Initiative in Lagos.
The clean-up was carried out to commemorate the International Youth Day (IYD).
Enitan said that the NGO was founded primarily to change the narrative and perception of people about youths in the Mushin area.
According to him, the occasion of the IYD is a wake-up call for youths in Mushin to care and own the environment they live in by ensuring that they keep it clean.
“MTTW is passionate about education, environmental sustainability and social impact actions geared toward changing the orientation of youths in Mushin,” Enitan said.
The founder said that beyond the stigmatisation of the youth of Mushin, there lies a great future and potential in them that needed to be exploited for good.
Enitan expressed gratitude to the Mushin LCDA and the LGA chairmen in their advocacy for a greater Mushin where peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding would thrive.
He said that they chose to identify with the clean-up initiative to lead by example and show that a cleaner environment was needed for good health.
“We will continue to take the advocacy further to teach our people the importance of separating their wastes and keeping a neat and tidy environment.
“We will also teach our people that they can make money from waste recycling.
“Many of our people don’t know that it is possible to make money from recycling,” Enitan said.
On the littering of the drainages with excreta, Enitan said that his foundation would partner with the Mushin council authorities to ensure that it was a thing of the past.
He said that that open defecation remained a challenge within the area, but noted that more would be done to fight the menace. (NAN)