Story highlights In 2016 Onitsha was the most polluted city in the world, according to WHO

Tweet of Nigerian man organizing a litter pick went viral

Lagos (CNN) A Tweet of Nigerian man Christopher Anaekwe, 28, picking up trash recently went viral.

While a commendable, community-spirited deed, it's not exactly the sort of act you'd think would get thousands of likes and shares.

However, the city Anaekwe lives in -- Onitsha in southern Nigeria -- has been labeled the most polluted on Earth. Many roads are smothered in waste. The air is thick with toxic pollutants (PM10).

Anaekwe had organized a group of teenagers to clear the trash-laden streets in their local neighbourhood. The action of community goodwill received plaudits on the internet.

Chris Anaekwe and his team clean up the gutters in Onitsha.

"Onitsha is very dirty. I don't think government is doing anything in the state to stop that," Anaekwe told CNN. "The rate at which people are dumping refuse inside the gutters is very alarming."

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