A few days ago, I saw someone throw a plastic bottle out of a moving vehicle. The person didn't young man didn't think twice . It seems like a simple action, but the consequences are much more than what we think.
This is a typical example of Nigeria road. We complain about the flooded roads, curse the blocked drainage and blame the government but have we ever asked ourselves if we also play part in creating this type of problem.
As citizens, one of our responsibilities is to keep our surroundings as clean as possible. A clean environment is not created only by road cleaners only, it is created by people who choose to do the right thing.
We often assume that afterall it's one bottle or one nylon bag, but what happens when thousands of people think the same way every day.
I remember one rainy afternoon I was going home from work, a road that is usually busy had turned into a muddy stream. Car crawled through the water, motorcycles struggled to pass and many pedestrians including me had no choice than to remove our shoes before crossing. I walked towards the gutter and realized it wasn't just filled with water, but was also packed with plastic bottles, sachet water nylon and other diets. The truth was that these floods are not caused by the rain alone, it is also caused by countless small acts of carelessness.
The truth is, holding unto one empty plastic bottle until you find a dustbin may look insignificant, but if more people practice it everyday, our streets would be much better, cleaner and flooding would be less severe.
Sometimes, the change we keep waiting doesn't only begin with the government, it begins with us as well . Next time we get tempted to throw dirts onto the road, we should always think again.
