Rivers
RIWAMA Continues Sensitisation, Warns Against Indiscriminate Dumping
The ongoing sensitisation visits to markets and other public places by officials of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA), berthed at Rumuekini, Alakahia and Ogbogoro Communities in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State, last Tuesday.
The team, which was led by the Sole Administrator of the Agency, Bro. Felix Obuah, watched as traders who were apparently taken unawares by the visit, hurried to sweep and pick up debris in their sheds and around the gutters.
Represented by the Director of Environmental Health/Operations, Mrs. Helen Ohaka, Bro. Obuah ordered the traders to clean up gutters which were littered with refuse, warning that further acts of indiscriminate dumping of wastes would attract arrest and prosecution of defaulters by sanitation marshals.
Obuah regretted that the continued habit of dumping refuse at unauthorised places, was geared to frustrate the good efforts of the agency, but assured that RIWAMA remained resolute and would not be deterred by activities of these individuals whom he described as unpatriotic traders.
Noting that only last month, the agency embarked on a public enlightenment and sensitisation campaign against indiscriminate dumping of waste, waste management and dumping time of 6pm to 12midnight, Obuah restated that to keep the roads, markets and other public places clean and healthy at all times, is a task that must be done by all and sundry.
Reaffirming his stance that those who flout sanitation rules are enemies of the State, Obuah stressed that residents and those doing business in Port Harcourt, the State capital and its environs had no excuse to dump refuse indiscriminately as receptacles have been strategically positioned close to business and residential places.
He appealed to traders and residents to join hands with the state government to keep the markets and other public places clean at all times.
Reaffirming the warning that members of the agency would not fold its arms and watch unpatriotic agents sabotage the works of RIWAMA, Obuah revealed that a surveillance team had been put in place to arrest and prosecute anyone found dumping wastes outside the approved hours of 6pm to 12 midnight.