LAGOS- A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Swim-In-One-Day, on Friday appealed to Nigerians to learn how to swim as drowning pandemic continued to rise in Africa.
The convener of the Swim-In-One-Day Initiative, Mr Emeka Chuks-Nnadi, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that people needed to learn how to swim to save their lives in any form of water disaster.
“We have a black drowning pandemic especially in Africa. Black Africans are mostly affected.
“On a steady basis, our people keep dieing from drowning which is easily preventable.
“The rate of drowning incidents in Nigeria and Africa at large is not only alarming but scandalous, for obvious and avoidable reasons.
“Most Nigerians and Africans do not care about learning how to swim for so many reasons that do not make logical sense.
“Even when they know how to swim, they are either ignorant of water safety rules or in cases where they are aware, they take them for granted,” he said.
Chuks-Nnadi said that safety protocols were not observed in most swimming pools or beaches and the lifeguards that should enforce these rules are ignorant themselves a lot of times.
He noted that the organisation continued to empower people through teaching survival swimming at the fastest rate possible.
He said that the Swim-in-1-Day action plan was a call for Africans to unite and proactively eradicate the drowning pandemic before it eradicated the people.
The convener, however, said it was obvious that no amount of safety measures could be put in place to prevent drowning deaths in a country and continent bereft of justice. (NAN)