The Monitoring Team of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA),has arrested six persons for dumping building and construction and wastes on the median of Market Road in Rumuomasi area of Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The Sole Administrator of RIWAMA, Bro. Felix Obuah who disclosed this in a statement, condemned the unwholesome practice of dumping construction and building wastes at the median of roads, stressing that such actions not only sabotage the efforts of the Agency but also destroy the aesthetic beauty of the roads.
Bro. Obuah said the six sanitation defaulters were caught in the act while littering the median of the road with construction and building wastes, long after the approved dumping hours of 6pm to 12 midnight.
“In the early hours of today, some unpatriotic persons, bent on sabotaging the activities of Rivers State Waste Management Agency, RIWAMA emptied into the road and on the median of Market Road, Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt, large volume of debris, mainly construction/building wastes, and defaced the beauty of the road, contrary to sanitation laws of Rivers State”, Bro. Obuah said, adding that the arrested persons would be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.
Bro. Obuah regretted that the activities of these unpatriotic persons are geared at frustrating the good efforts of the Agency, but assured that RIWAMA remains resolute and would not be deterred by activities of these individuals whom he described as destructive elements.
Noting that only last month, the Agency embarked on a Public Enlightenment and Sensitization Campaign Against Indiscriminate Dumping of Wastes, Waste Management and Dumping Time of 6pm to 12midnight, Bro. 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, Bro. Obuah stressed that residents and those doing business in Port Harcourt, the State capital and its environs have no excuse to dump refuse indiscriminately as receptacles have been strategically positioned close to business and residential places.
He appealed to Rivers people and all those living and doing business in the State to join hands with the State Government to keep Port Harcourt the State capital and its environs clean at all times.
While again reaffirming the warning that the Agency would not fold its arms and watch these unpatriotic agents sabotage the efforts of RIWAMA, Bro. Obuah revealed that a surveillance team has been put in place to arrest and prosecute anyone found throwing dirt on the median as well as dumping wastes outside the approved hours of 6pm to 12 midnight.
He said the actions of the arrested defaulters became more provocative as a Public Enlightenment and Sensitization Team on Indiscriminate Dumping of Wastes, Waste Management and Dumping Time of 6pm to 12midnight Campaign was recently organized by the Agency.
