Keep Uniuyo Annex Clean: Sophomore Pacesetters Embark on a Thrilling Cleaning Exercise in View of their SDGS

#KeepUniUyoAnnexClean

What can be more depressing than learning in an environment that saps your soul away every two seconds because of how disdainful it looks and smells? Similar to the cartoon-like depiction of scents - but this time in a bad way - the smell of the unclean environment envelops you and truly takes you to a place you don’t know (inserts e dey carry me dey go where I no know).

The initiative to Keep UniUyo Annex Clean was borne out of the immense desire to walk around and not spit in disgust, or hop on one leg to manoeuvre the graciously provided cow dung. It was borne out of the desire to relish in the euphoria of having started a positive trend.

As a chambers, each class was given the opportunity to choose and execute one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Sophomore Pacesetters in fulfillment, chose SDG 6: Clean water and Sanitation. In order to successfully enact this goal, a lot of factors had to be considered. Inter alia the safety of the students, the cost of getting tools for sanitation, the immediate effect it would have on the Law students. These were all considered. Unanimously, the Sophomore Pacesetters agreed to start from within: to clean their faculty and its annex building - the moot court.

With the grace only a trained ballerina would carry, we stepped out of the Law Assembly Hall where we had gathered for a brief session of prayers due to the intermittent weather and all other capricious factors. Sophomore Pacesetters! Assemble! And so we did, the cover of the basket similar to a vibranium shield painted red, blue, and silver. The broom similar to a hammer only a norse god could lift. 

We documented our happy faces and the eagerness to start creating a change. The photos reflected the radiance in our smiles as we clutched out noveau orange baskets under our arms and flung our napkins like a gyrating woman during an intense praise session, in tandem with MOKO’s Isopropyl Alcohol. The flexible collection of palm fronds stripped of their thin leaves and wound with a thick black rubber band, colloquially regarded as a broom, was among our tools. We divided ourselves into teams of two: the first team was to clean the marker riddled festering boards in the Law Lecture Halls, while the second team was to attack the gutters of the Moot court complex.

With each squeak the board made as the alcohol soaked napkin was dragged across it, the one song that filled our heads was the TikTok challenge: “wipe it down wipe, wipe, wipe…” We eventually bought face masks to avoid inadvertent inebriation due to the acrid smell of the spirit.

The smiles that stained our faces after the task of cleaning the three boards turned sour when we saw the wanton waste that had clogged our gutters at the moot court. Breathe in, breathe out. The therapy wasn’t working. But we had a job to do, to set a precedent, we needed to clean. We peaked our speaker volume, blasted songs to pump our adrenaline, and attacked the waste head-on. 

“Hi, half drunk sachet of water, it’s nice to see that you have familiarized yourself within the comfort of the gutters, but its time to leave. Dump!” Poco...

“Algae and weeds! You look green as ever, thriving to our detriment, catcalling your blood sucking friends. Uproot!”…a…

“Boiled groundnut shells? You only look good when you’re cocooned in the transparent nylons “sardined” with your friends gallantly perched on hawkers’ heads, filled with your purple goodness, but for now? Sweep!” …poco.

Poco a poco. Little by little. We started with raking the trash out of the gutter, collecting them in waste baskets and dumping them in the incinerator bins. The combined effect of the music, the camaraderie, the jokes, and the one goal we had to accomplish, we eventually cleaned the gutters and raked out the weeds.

However, keeping the environment clean shouldn’t be a task one chambers should indulge in alone, a group of fourteen people may keep the complex clean, but imagine what would happen if others joined hands? Our goal was likewise shared by a member of a sister chambers, who joined hands to clean the complex.

It seems like a dream but the decision to walk to the dustbin to dispose of your trash, the consciousness to keep your nuts till you eject it into a bin to avoid littering, and proper disposal of everything non-biodegradable, no matter how infinitesimal, the environment will be cleaner. When the environment is cleaner in Town camp Annex, we can eventually tackle the elephants cows in the room. But for now, little by little, no matter how stressful, we will clean annex for better health and for a conducive environment.

Written by Etinosa Egharevba 

Brought to You by The Sophomore Class, Justice Udo Udoma Chambers