The acting United States Consul-General in Nigeria, Mrs. Dehab Ghebreab, on Saturday called for the proper management of the country's ocean and coastal lines.

She made the call at the clean-up exercise to commemorate this year’s annual International Coastal Cleanup Day in Lagos.

Ghebreab said the essence of the exercise was to create awareness on the importance of maintaining a clean coastline and environment.

According to her, the United States Mission is promoting the global awareness of the challenge of marine debris by encouraging people to participate in coastal cleanup event.

“The essence of the event is for us to come together as partners to simply say it is important we pay attention to our environment and to our ocean and the coastlines.

“We have been cleaning a lot of plastics that people have just dropped off as they move on with their lives.

“And we are saying, in order for the ocean to support us to have clean air, we need to take care of our environment and the ocean.”

Ghebreab said government agencies and the private sector should join the campaign to ensure clean environment.

“If we do not take care of our environment, we are going to lose the quality of sustainable life available to us, our children and our grandchildren.

“The government cannot do it alone, it is incumbent that each one of us to be responsible. To recycle, pick up the plastics and put them in the right places.”

Acting Consul-General called on all stakeholders to come together to protect, encourage and prevent the coastlines and the environment from further degradation. (NAN)

•Photo showsActing United States Consul-General in Nigeria, Mrs. Dehab Ghebreab