8th Millennium Oceans Prize Winners: Lagos Plastic Revolution
Lagos Plastic Revolution Team
Thank you for joining us and congratulations on being named the 8th Millennium Oceans Prize Winners. Tell us a little bit about the project ‘Lagos Plastic Revolution’, what do you hope to achieve over the next year.
We’re carrying out this project as a result of the plastic waste pollution we see around us. We are around Lagos state university, and we experience pollution and the channelling of this waste into water bodies. As fisheries students, we understand the effect of this pollution on marine organisms. We understand the fact that over time plastic causes entanglements and suffocation to the fish and it has a very widespread and long-term effect on marine organisms. As a result of that, we’re inspired to carry out a project that will reduce plastic pollution in the water bodies surrounding our university. That was our major inspiration.
We began by creating an awareness campaign to teach people about the harmful effects of plastic pollution to Lagos’ marine ecosystems. With this Millennium Oceans Prize grant, we hope to upscale and build on what we started. We hope to build our team by enlist more and more students - our goal, as the name, suggests, is to make this a revolution spread across the LASU community and Lagos’ youth population in general. These students will work with us to reduce plastic menace, conduct sensitisation drives, carry out city wide plastic cleanups, and more. We will carry out seminars across all LASU campuses, bringing in experts to to teach students how to transform different plastic waste into viable building materials. We also hope to acquire machinery and materials to make this process of plastic transformation possible.
How did this team come together and what do you hope to achieve together?
We are a group of students who share similar passions and interests.. We are all students of Aquatic Biology at the Lagos State University. We noted a general culture of neglect when it comes to the usage and disposal of plastics at our campus and across the wider city of Lagos. Like many African cities, there is little focus on recycling or garbage collection. We drink soda, water, etc and mindlessly discard the plastic bottles, pollute our environment with plastic bags without worrying about the consequences. Many do not know better, while those who do don’t really care. This culture is very widespread. The long-term effects of this level of pollution will obviously be catastrophic, so it is imperative that we find solutions now, particularly as young people. This is what brought us together to create the Lagos Plastic Revolution team.
You presented a very bold and thoughtful application to be named the 8th oceans Prize Winners - now set to receive $5,000 in funding to implement your project. What did it mean to you to be named 2022 Oceans Prize winners?
We felt ecstatic and excited! We can’t fully describe what this recognition and the funding means to us. Frankly, the decision came as a bit of a surprise because we’d submitted our application months back but did not hear back for a while, so we just assumed we weren’t successful and began implementing our project idea nonetheless. When we received communication that the Remmer Family Foundation and MCN had selected us for the Prize, it felt like a dream come true. Our hope is to create an incredible project that will leave a real legacy and lasting impact. We hope to create community interventions that benefit everyone at LASU and serve as a win-win for all of people of Lagos.
You are all young undergraduates taking bold steps to improve your communities. What do you think is the role of young people in Nigeria and around Africa in creating local change?
Young people can play a pivotal role in helping Nigeria, and Africa rise within this generation. We truly care, all our actions come from the heart. We must recognise our power and potential, and realise that whatever decisions we make now for our continent will either be punished or rewarded in future. Young minds in Africa are very important. When we as young people start creating social impact, we set an example for those who went before us - letting them know that African youth mean business - and also for those who are younger than us because they see all that is possible and feel inspired by our work. In this way, we show them the right path and help them avoid vices and wrong paths. We as a team of young people from Lagos having been selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants around the world sends a strong message that solutions to African issues can be found right here in Africa, and they can come from African youth. I hope young people in Nigeria see this as a positive challenge, and understand that everything is possible.
Lagos State University
“Our Selection sends a strong message that solutions to African Issues can be found right here in Africa, and they can come from African youth”
Thank you and congratulations once more. Any final piece of advice to share with our community?
The advice I would give is to make an impact in the world starts with every one of us. Every person has to be included. No action is too small to make a difference. It all depends on how passionate you are and how willing you are to put everything in place to ensure you really attain that thing you are passionate about. To every young person out there. Do not give up on your dream to make a difference, or your passion to make an impact.