₦airaland Forum

Landing in Kigali, Rwanda, after more than 24 hours of travel, I wasn’t sure I heard the flight attendant correctly:

“Plastic bags are not allowed in Rwanda. Please remove any belongings, including duty-free shopping, from their plastic bags and leave the bags on board.”

Um, what?

I looked around and saw plastic bags being tucked into the pockets of my fellow passengers’ seats. I removed the T-shirt that I’d bought at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and left its plastic shopping bag behind.

After waiting in line to purchase my Rwandan visa, then waiting in a second line to have my passport stamped, I finally reached the immigration desk, where the officer handed the passport back to me with a big smile and said, “Welcome to Rwanda.”

All I could think about was the genocide of 20 years ago — and yet, somehow, I felt like I’d just been welcomed by the concierge of an eco-friendly resort.

Waiting at the luggage carousel, I saw a man selling cloth bags. I was extremely jet-lagged and wasn’t overthinking anything at that point. I simply observed, albeit with a foggy brain and a great thirst for water — or some other clear beverage with a slice of lime in it.

On the drive from the airport to my hotel, I noticed how incredibly clean the streets were. I have spent enough time in other African cities — littered with plastic bags, bottles and tall mounds of trash — and had never seen anything as cleanly swept as the well-paved streets of Kigali.

I didn’t start to look into this until a) jet-lag started to lift the next day and b) I discussed plans for a day trip that Saturday. My colleague Mathilde advised me to have a relaxing morning and not plan anything until after 11 a.m. “Why?” I asked. “Because traffic is not allowed, stores will not be open, there will be no services except at your hotel until then,” she said.

I learned that it was Umuganda — set aside as the last Saturday of each month. Its meaning is rooted in the intertwined sense of both “community” and “payment.” The concept dates to when Rwanda was part of Belgium’s colonized empire and its practice bolstered one’s civic responsibility.

After taking office in 2000, President Paul Kagame revived, if you will, Umuganda to help clean up his still-shell-strewn capital a few years after one of the world’s most swift (100 days) genocides. Under a law that took effect in 2005, all able-bodied people (including the president) between 18 and 65 are required to participate in cleaning up their neighborhoods’ streets and sidewalks. Of course, a (perhaps unintended) consequence of this community service is less litter dropped on the streets — one will just have to do more work on the day of Umuganda if one litters. Another consequence (intended) is that clean cities can reflect public health and environmental health, and that can attract investment and development aid. Hence, another contributing factor to Kigali’s cleanliness, in addition to Umuganda and a culture of non-littering, is the ban on plastic bags.

According to the 2014 Mercer Global Financial list of the world’s cleanest cities, Calgary is followed by Adelaide, Australia; Honolulu; Minneapolis, and Kobe, Japan. To anyone who travels much to Africa, Kigali would most certainly be on the list for the continent. In fact, I find less litter here in Kigali than in Minneapolis — and I have yet to see any gum stuck on sidewalks.

Rwanda has a ways to go for a full-fledged democracy, but it’s true that Umuganda does instill a sense of collective citizenship and civic engagement — even if it is with a strong hand. It has taken hold culturally, it seems, when I ask people who speak (at least openly) positively about it.

Perhaps the concept behind Umuganda, and the ban on plastic bags, will inspire replication not only in Africa but across the world — including Minneapolis (“City checking out plastic bag ban,” July 25).

I, for one, haven’t missed the plastic bag I left behind on the aircraft.



Karen Louise Boothe Acharya, of Minneapolis, is a former journalist and now works as a Communications for Development (C4D) consultant. She has worked in and/or traveled to more than 60 countries.

Source
http://www.startribune.com/no-plastic-bags-it-s-already-the-law-in-rwanda/319068161/
https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/plastic-human-impact.jpg

Abubakar Malami was born on 17 April 1967 in Birnin Kebbi, the capital of Kebbi State, Northern Nigeria. His early formal education began at Nassarawa Primary School, Birnin Kebbi before he completed his secondary school education at College of Arts and Arabic Studies.[4] In 1991, he graduated from Usmanu Danfodiyo University where he studied Law and was called to the bar in 1992. Abubakar is an alumnus of the University of Maiduguri where he obtained his master's degree in Public Administration in 1994.[4]


Yele Sowore is from Ese-Odo, Ondo State in South West Nigeria. Sowore was born in the Niger Delta region of the country where he was also raised in a polygamous home with sixteen children.[3] At 12, he learned to ride a motorcycle so that he could go to the lake to go fishing for food for his entire family every morning before going to school. Sowore's passion and desire in media was propelled during the military rule in Nigeria.[4]

Sowore studied Geography and Planning at the University of Lagos from 1989 to 1995 with his academic program extended by two extra years after being expelled twice for political reasons and student activism.[citation needed] He was the President of the University of Lagos Student Union Government between 1992 and 1994 where he was involved in anti-cultism and anti-corruption advocacy.[citation needed] Sowore holds a master's degree in Public Administration from Columbia University.[5]

One is an intellectual per excellence, the other an Opportunist who by nepotism became relevant

From Wikipedia

akdjr:
Be mindful of the implication of your comment by profiling an entire ethnic group. The same people you're calling out now are the same people you can't do without politically and you will need them tomorrow. Remember Dame call them names and they show her and the husband what their numbers can do. Know one fact that no Government will sit back and relax watching any form of threat from any individual/group to forcefully take over power even during military. Asari Dokubo threatened that Nigeria will become history if Jonathan did not win and when Jonathan loses Asari Dokubo did not embark on revolution cos he knows that will definitely consume him. It take collective effort of the majority of the population to achieve revolution. You don't carry out revolution for the people but rather with the people. How many people do you think Sowore can mobilize from every region of the country for his revolution now? While I urge the SSS to release him, I also condemn his action.

Just only if the country is still united, Do you think Nigeria under the Regime is united?

NigerianMan:
Diepreye Alamieyesegha - 2 credits

James Ibori - 13 credits

Lucky Igbinedion - 1/2 credit

Jolly Nyame - 14 credits

Joshua Dariye - 14 credits

Orji Uzor Kalu - 12 credits

Rotimi Ameachi - awaiting result

Godwill Akpabio - awaiting result

Abba Kyari - awaiting result

Yahaya Bello - awaiting result

Rochas Okorcha - awaiting result

Uche Secondus - awaiting result

Olisah Metuh - awaiting result

Timipre Sylva - awaiting result

Abdullahi Ganduje - awaiting result

Babachir Lawal - awaiting result

Bola Tinubu - awaiting result

Dudafa Waripamo - awaiting result

Saminu Turaki - awaiting result

Murtala Nyako - awaiting result

Ayodele Fayose - awaiting result

Addullahi Adamu - awaiting result

You forgot to add several others,

Goodluck Jonathan - Awaiting result

Dasuki - awaiting result

Deziani awaiting result

Babangida - Awaiting result

Obasanjo awaiting result

Abdusalami awaiting result


The List goes on and on

K

D

Use shear butter ORI.

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. Proverb 13:11

Cloudy sky.
Remind me of Majek Fashek


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwoOzGqjxDI

Hmm!

Sunnycliff:
Sowore has more days to stay. You guys think that Buhari is GEJ

Your suffering under a clueless Buhari also has an extended expiry so long as Sowore remains incarcerated
You are not bold enough to speak up, Sowore represented cowards like you and all that you wish for him is continued incarceration
Shame on you

Even my unemployment in Nigeria did not depress me as much as seeing the Brutality of the Police, I left Nigeria because I cannot stand The Corruption and injustice of the Nigerian Police, the Abuse and to think that one Idiot who does not have Certificate is my President. I couldn't stand it
Majek Fashek music about Police brutality is still valid till date

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVf8gmyo-Ss