Business
RSG Warns Tanker Drivers Over Lawlessness
The Rivers State Government, has said that
it will not condone any form of lawlessness or action capable of sabotaging its
efforts to generally sanitise Port Harcourt, and has therefore arrested some
tanker drivers along the Abonnema Wharf/Njemanze axis for constituting nuisance
to the environment.
The Commissioner for Urban Development and
Physical Planning, Dr. T.W. Danagogo who handed down the warning while
addressing some tanker drivers, Tuesday during a joint operations of the State
Inter-Ministerial taskforce said that the nuisance which petroleum tankers and
heavy duty trucks constitute along Abonnema Wharf/Njemanze and UTC junction
axis of Port Harcourt could not be allowed to continue.
He said that these drivers have gradually
tumed the area into a trailer park, which he said has not only impacted negatively
on motorists and residents, but has also subjected the road to colossal damage.
Danagogo who was accompanied by other
co-ordinators of the taskforce including the Chairman of the State
Environmental Sanitation Authority, Mr. Isobo Jack and Controller-General of
TIMARIV, Mr. Nelson Jaja explained that a first step to check the ugly trend
was to arrest some offenders.
Over 10 tanker dirvers were arrested during
the operation, and the Urban Development Commissioner maintained that those
arrested would be charged to court immediately.
The Commissioner renewed his appeal to
people carrying out their businesses in the state to co-operate with government
to restore Port Harcourt to its former status.
Other areas covered during the operations
include Ikwerre Road, Aba road, GRA and Olu Obasanjo road.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner while speaking
to newsmen has said that a mobile court is to be deployed to instantly
prosecute anyone arrested by the State Government Inter-Ministerial Taskforce
set up to sanitise Port Harcourt and its environs soonest.
The Committee members are drawn from the
Ministry of Urban Development and Physical Planning, Environmental Sanitation
Authority, TIMARIV, and the Ministry of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation. Some
destitutes were relocated to rehabilitation homes and some arrests made during
the operations.
Corlins Walter