The Coordinator of Rivers
State Sanitation Marshalls, Prince Sodin Akiaba has warned residents of Port Harcourt and it environs against dumping of refuse into drainages.
Speaking in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, Prince Akiabo blamed uses of flooding in parts of Port Harcourt especially in the Mile III area of the indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the gutters.
He said that with the approach of the rainy season, there is need for caution on the part of the people against indiscriminate refuse disposal.
Prince Akiaba said that the situation could lead to massive flooding across the city thereby creating health problem for the people.
He said that there is need for neighbourhood vigilantees to check this situation.
“Every street in Port Harcourt should formed a vigilantee to monitor refuse disposal in their street.
“This is the only way to stop the indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drains,” he said.
The coordinator said that the sanitation marshalls can help the government to check this trend, if approval is given to that effect by the government.
He used the occasion to commend the Rivers State Ministry of Environment and the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority for the efforts in keeping the city clean, but noted that the two agencies need to work with stakeholders for effective result.

L-R: Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Environment, Mr Taofeek Folami, Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Mr Tunji Bello and his Information counterpart, Mr Lateef Ibirogba, at a briefing by Bello on the activities of the ministry in Lagos, recently.

The National Oil Spill De
tection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has called on the military to establish an Oil Spill Response Base (OSRB) for quick intervention during oil spill emergencies.
Mr Peter Idabor, the Director General of the agency, made the call during a courtesy visit to Vice Admiral Usman Jibril, the Chief of Naval Staff, in Abuja.
Idabor said the base, if established, would serve as a veritable security for quick response and intervention by the agency during oil spill emergencies.
He recalled the Bonga oil spill incident and commended the Navy for providing a vessel to NOSDRA that ensured quick response.
According to him, crises usually occurred between affected communities and companies involved during oil spill emergencies.
He said partnership with the Navy had become critical due to its role in providing security to the maritime environment.
“It has become more critical for us to partner with the Nigerian Navy, especially when it has to do with issues relating to oil spill in this country.
“When there is a large oil spill, there is usually conflict between the community and the company involved.
“In most cases, it is sabotage and in such cases, we require the military to come in at certain point.’’
He said that most of the deaths in the Niger Delta had positive correlations with oil spillage.
He explained that people were at the risk of being affected by eating food that come from such polluted environment.
He also said the life span of most Nigerians was shortening due to the effect oil spill on the ecosystem.
“The attitudes of our oil explorers, especially when spills occur, it does not bother them that over a million of chemicals are spilled into the sea, which is very dangerous to health.
“The oil spill contaminate our aquatic resources and it affects the entire food chain as long as we survive on the food chain.’’
Responding, Jibril said the Navy was familiar with the operation of the agency, adding that it would support NOSDRA to stop oil spill in the country.
He said the force was also aware of the effects of oil spill to aquatic life and the environment.
The Navy Chief also commended the agency’s cooperation with the military, saying “you have reduced spillage and its attendant effects in the country within this few days.
“We are ready to contribute to stop oil spillage and we are ready to give to you information about spillage whenever they occur.
“Our new boats that we are importing from China have facilities to contain oil spillage.’’
He however, said the delay in the release of boats to the agency was to control their misuse and advised the agency’s management to henceforth, put in its administrative request at their time of need.
He gave an assurance that the Navy would reduce administrative bottlenecks to enable the agency to access the facility during emergencies.
Jibril, however, sought the support of NOSDRA in the provision of infrastructure to the force, saying, “we need to support one another to achieve our goals.
“We have the human capital base to do what we are trained to do; what we need more is the infrastructure and we call on other organisations to support us too.’’

The Federal Ministry of
Environment said last Wednesday that it would work with stakeholders to proffer strategies and plans to combat the impact of climate change on Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
Mr Rabi Jimeta, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, said this at the two-day multi-stakeholders meeting on issues of climate change in Abuja.
The meeting was convened to discuss strategies for mainstreaming climate change and environmental issues into the National Development Plans.
It was also aimed at discussing and generating elements on climate change and environmental issues for integration into National Implementation Plan (NIP-2) of the Nigerian Vision 20:2020.
Jimeta was represented by Dr Samuel Adejuwon, the Director, Climate Change Department of the ministry.
He said the ministry would continue to collaborate through the inter-ministerial committee, to address the impact of climate change.
“Mainstreaming climate change/environmental issues into NIP-2 of the Nigeria vision 20:2020 will help to address the looming negative impacts of climate change.
“It will turn the challenges into opportunities for national sustainable and low carbon development path.
“So, I charge you to reaffirm strategies for dealing with the implementation challenges of mainstreaming climate change/environmental issues for achieving sustainable development and poverty eradication in Nigeria,” she said.
In his goodwill message, Mr George Nwalupue, the Director, Social Development, National Planning Commission, said that the issue of environment was now on the front burner.
“I am particularly delighted that today’s meeting is actually coming up at the right time, when climate change and environmental issues and their attendant consequences are now on the front burner.
“A recent example is the 2012 flood with its attendant devastation on the citizens and the economy.
“Also, the need for us as a nation to articulate projects and programmes towards mitigating such future occurrence,” he said.
While commenting, Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo, a resource person at meeting, said addressing environmental problems required huge financial resources, stressing on the need to be more focused in addressing environmental problems.
“It is not enough to tackle erosion in Anambra alone because, the whole of the ministry’s budget, which is N7 billion may not be enough to solve erosion problem in the state.
“So, you have to separate which of the environmental problems you will mainstream into the national plan to achieve desired results.
“The ministry should work closely with other ministries and relevant agencies to address these challenges.
“The Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) should start advocating and creating awareness on the dangers of not addressing environmental problems,” he said.