When in 2019 Pastor Oludare Akinode, an architect and the technical drawing teacher of Lagos State Model College, Meiran, Lagos, formed the Recycle Club, little did he know how great and far-reaching it would become in a short time. Last week in Lagos, the club gathered about 99 schools in Lagos State Education District 1 to showcase the many art works, drawings, art crafts and more, created out of wastes by the students. EDOZIE UDEZE was there.
THE main objective of the project is simple: It is basically to recycle wastes for productivity. In Lagos State as elsewhere people dump refuse carelessly. And most times these wastes constitute environmental problems to the society. However, in the midst of this chaos, some people; some artists, architects and geographers have found different ways to turn these wastes into wealth; into meaningful and beautiful art pieces.
This was what happened at the Lagos State Model College, Meiran last week, when all the schools in the Lagos State Education District 1 under the aegis of Recycle Club gathered to display all the art works, technical drawings, and architectural masterpieces essentially produced from wastes. The show was marvelous, very artistically prepared and packaged to show how ugliness can be turned into epitome of beauty and charm.
From one stand to another, each work displayed depicted the dexterity of artistic deliverance and how the teachers carefully and professionally guided the students to achieve perfection. With the works glittering in different shapes and colours of beauty, there were plenty of issues raised with the technical assemblages. Amid the heavy percussion of musical renditions, the students sat in clusters, nodding to the beauty of the hall, the displays of recycled works that were done by them. Even teachers moved leisurely round the stands, taking pictures, explaining some works, admiring the high level of the technical acumen achieved by the children. The scene was truly glorious and commendable.
And suddenly, you’d ask yourself; were all these truly produced out of wastes and how? The coordinator of the World Global Day Recycle Exhibition programme, the one man who mooted the noble idea Pastor Oludare Akinode was on hand to throw more light on the genesis of the recycled club that gave birth to the outing. He said: “Yes, I am the coordinator of education district 1 recycle club,” he began. “We formed the recycle club here in this school. And later we went round all the schools within the district 1 in the state. The idea was to sell the concept of the club to all the schools and see how we could help to reduce the amount of wastes in the environment. This was in 2019. A lot of students were made to pick some empty bottles, plastic containers, name it and with these we began to apply artistic muse into them”.
An architect and the technical drawing teacher of Lagos State Model College Meiran, Akinode saw this as a laudable project, something that must be facilitated to indoctrinate the children in ways to turn wastes into art pieces thereby creating wealth and hope therewith. “So, we went to town. We began to hold meetings every Wednesday in all the schools. The meetings essentially helped us to discover more ways to go about this project. Even from the large number of students in the schools around, there were lots of refuses. It was this that actually prompted us to swing into action”.
A lover of the preservation of the environment, Akinode took this project to heart. In education district 1 alone, there are 99 schools, large enough to generate not only attention, but wastes large enough to kickstart this exercise. Then to Akinode, “lots of these wastes also came from discarded tyres as you can see from some of the works on display. At least from each school, we have up to 20 who are members of the club. So the materials we recycle are all around us. But the items they use like welding machines may be found within. Today we all wear the Lagos State colours; orange or lemon green, with a sprinkle of white for refuse collection. This is to identify ourselves with the project. We also have coordinators in all the schools while I am the overall coordinator for the district”.
While the foremost positions were chosen at the occasion, the grand finale will come up in June. Akinode was happy the show came out good. He said, “Yes, we will sell the works to raise money. Even today, we do not mind if some buyers will come along to collect some of the works as we are ready to sell them.” The exercise has no doubt helped to reduce wastes. All over the large and expansive school premises, you could hardly see any dirt. All the dirty things have been made into big wealth. It has shown people that every waste is indeed money waiting to be picked, waiting to be turned into a big market.
Even in the school, they have been able to make a tricycle. For now they need partners to up their game. They go to various bodies to seek partners. “Some of the partners we have include Snakecave, Hon. Adaranijo and we also have LAWMA and some others with whom we do this project”.
Owoeye Oluwafunbi, one of the teachers and coordinators in one of the schools lent her voice when she said, “Yes you can see the collection of our works there. There is a mirror, well designed. It can be used as a table mirror or put in the toilet for family use. It is made from Keke napep tyre. We have a kitchen seat also made from a keke napep tyre. The broken bottle there was made to form flower vase. There is also the artificial flower within the collection. This can be hung on the wall for beautification”.
A graduate of Economics, Owoeye was happy the ideas of economic form of wealth creation which she learnt in school were being turned into realities. “It is all the same”, she said. “It is to teach the children how to ensure that they do not turn away from thinking wealth creation from the things around them”. As she spoke two of the students involved in the art works surrounded her, nodding their heads and displaying the artistry of students already fashioned out to do great things in life.
In her reaction, Omoaka Lucy Emike who is the director in-charge of science and technology in the Lagos education district 1, Agege, had this to say: “My DG, Barrister Margret Titilayo Solarin always believes so much in the salient talents inbuilt in these children. So she does everything she can to encourage them, to ensure activities like this go on smoothly. This is why the children are here today to exhibit these things they have done, these fantastic works. All the schools in this district are here now. So, the government is also doing its best to see that our environment is clean. This is so because cleanliness is next to godliness. Gone are the days when papers and bottles were seen as wastes. The recycle club with the children here have told us it is no longer so”.
She reiterated government commitment to technical schools to develop more talents. “Today we have more comprehensive schools also. This is in addition to the technical schools to train more students in the areas of crafts and handiworks. This is why the government is ensuring that schools do more in the area of creativity. Today we have twelve comprehensive schools in the state. These schools are to aid and assist in what are going on in our technical colleges”.
In all, it is in turning trash to treasure that more job opportunities can be created by the youngsters. The twelve winners that emerged in both the senior and junior categories at the occasion go to show the profundity of their works. Work of art is an innate sensitivity and therefore as schools try to recycle wastes through the efforts of people like Akinode, it behooves on government to display total support and encouragement for the project to thrive, prosper and endure for all time to come.