Women in Maritime Africa, WIMA Nigeria, traded boardroom talk for beach boots on Saturday as they marked 2026 World Oceans Day with a full-contact cleanup at Tarkwa Bay, proving that saving the ocean sometimes means getting your hands dirty.
Ditching the usual ribbon-cutting ceremonies, maritime professionals, WIMA ambassadors, environmental advocates, and even private sector bigwigs showed up with gloves, trash bags, and determination to match this year’s theme: “Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us.”
WIMA Nigeria President Mrs. Theodora Nwaeze led the charge, reminding volunteers that oceans do the heavy lifting for us daily.
“Our oceans are the lifeblood of our planet.
They regulate our climate, provide food and livelihoods for millions, facilitate global trade, and sustain an extraordinary diversity of life. Today we’re repaying the favor,” she said between scoops of plastic.
The message was clear: advocacy is great, but action is better. And Tarkwa Bay got the memo. Shorelines that usually compete with Lagos traffic for debris got a serious makeover.
WIMA Nigeria Ambassador Chief Mrs. Carol Ufere, who last visited the beach over 20 years ago, was impressed. Despite limited infrastructure, she noted the water was “remarkably clean” and said the cleanup would have been tougher if not.
She also nudged government and private players to unlock Tarkwa Bay’s tourism potential.
“The oceans are life. We must keep our waters clean, marine life protected, and waste out of the sea. With the blue economy buzzing, we need to match the talk with action,” she quipped.
Fellow ambassador Barrister Gloria Kanabe, recalling childhood trips to the same beach, called the exercise “symbolic and necessary.”
“We cannot do without the ocean. Water is central to life.
Today is a reminder that safeguarding our oceans is a responsibility we all share,” she said, while proving she could swing a trash bag as well as a legal argument.
WIMA Nigeria Vice President Mrs. Temilade Ogunniyi said Tarkwa Bay was chosen deliberately because it’s both a community and a tourist magnet.
“The water that surrounds us affects all of us. Even the water we drink is influenced by ocean health. Clean oceans, clean lives,” she noted.
Private sector support came from LTT Coastal & Marine Services Ltd General Manager Liav Zilberman, who earned a “World Ocean Champion Recognition” for showing up and pitching in.
“As a maritime company, environmental protection is important to us.
My advice is simple: let’s keep our environment clean every day, not only on World Oceans Day,” he said, probably before checking if sand gets into dress shoes.
By sunset, bags of waste were hauled away and Tarkwa Bay looked a little more like a postcard and a little less like a dumpster.
For WIMA Nigeria, the cleanup was proof that the blue economy’s future depends less on speeches and more on shared responsibility.
As volunteers headed back to the mainland, the takeaway was obvious: the ocean gives us everything. The least we can do is stop treating it like a trash can.
