By Gabriel Olawale

Ace gospel artiste, Toluwanimi Eleoramo, popularly known as Toluwanimee, has launched an initiative to empower residents of the Jabi Lake community in Abuja.

Through an initiative called the Mercy Project, the artiste in collaboration with the Niger Delta-based African Center for Environmental Protection (ACEP), has committed to the clean up of the lake to address the health concerns of the residents as well as boost their economic well-being among others.

The singer said the project was a corporate social responsibility initiative, conceived recently while shooting the video of her recent gospel song, titled “Mercy” in the lake.
She said she was inspired to give back to the community after observing the deplorable state of their environment, which also served as a major source of their livelihood – fishing.

The portion of the lake, which was characterised by filth occasioned by indiscriminate waste dump and and bushes by the bank – remained a breeding spot for mosquitoes and intolerable stench – with all the attendant health hazards which residents are already paying a costly price.

Head of the settlement, which is mainly dominated by the Agatu ethnic tribe from Benue State, Alhaji Adamu Issa, told reporters that some of their children usually urinated blood as a result of the health issues arising from the deplorable condition of the lake.

However, Toluwanimee, who was being supported by her husband and Chief Executive, Kohath Group, Mr. Teni Eleoramo, expressed optimism that the three-day sanitation would instill a culture of environmental cleanliness in the community.

Shedding more light on the project, she said:” I was just inspired because you could obviously see that there was debris in the water and all of that.

“So I said what can I do just to contribute my own little quota to making Nigeria and our nation a better place.
“And I am so happy that we could put this together and start up this Mercy project.”

According to her:”What it is about is that we decided to come here and me working with a non profit charity organisation called African Center for Environmental Protection (ACEP) which is located in the Niger Delta.

“ACEP has an echo club and they teach people on how to keep their environment clean and safe and how to plant trees.”

She said:”Basically what we are doing here today is to work with the fishermen to encourage them because if you leave them they probably won’t do it.

“We’ve come out here today to clean the water and not just the water, the surrounding around water.

“We can all appreciated that if debris are thrown into the water, obviously it is going to disturpt the ecosystem of the water and the oxygen in the water is going to be distorted and all of that.
“So we are trying to take out all the debris and wastes in the water. This is not a one day project I must say but a three- day project.

“But today is just the beginning and inauguration of what is going to happen within the next three days.”

She explained further that the group will monitor progress from time to time to ensure that even after the exercise, the community do not relapse to their former ways.

“Today we are doing a before, so we will come back here to see an after- what has changed here not just in the water body itself but in the surrounding.

“We are hopeful that with them coming out to clean it will help them because a clean place will also encourage peace and unity in the community,” she said.

She added that the project was her own way of contributing her little quota to the country.
She said the the Mercy project was the maiden intervention by the group, hoping to touch more lives going forward.

“Mercy was actually the title of the song that I recorded and so because the song inspired the project, it actually now titled the mercy project. We are trusting God for more of these in other communities,” she emphasised.

A medical expert on the project, Dr. Adaora Keazor, further educated the residents on the need to adhere to good health practices.

She said the people needed to keep the water clean to sustain in order to it, pointing out that there should be a way to dispose of wastes.

She, however, warned that any water to be consumed had to be boiled properly in view of the recent outbreak of cholera in the country.

She added that a clean environment will produce a healthy community.
Issa, however, expressed gratitude on behalf of the community to the Mercy Project and called for government intervention to address other challenges faced by the residents.