RSG Sacks Refuse Contractors …Laments Poor Service Delivery

Rivers State Deputy Governor, Engr Tele Ikuru (left) in a handshake with Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike (right) while the newly wedded, Mr and Mrs Ikechukwu Obianyor watch, shortly, after their weeding at Our Saviours Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, recently

By the end of this month, all refuse contractors operating in Rivers State are expected to handover all government property in their possession to the  State Environmental Sanitation Authority (RSESA).

The action  follows the decision of the agency to disengage inefficient refuse contractors due to the swelling heaps of refuse dumps recently noticed around Port Harcourt metropolis and beyond.

Chairman of RSESA, Chief Nnamdi Nwokekoro in a press statement made available to The Tide said the disengagement would take effect from  January 31, 2010.

But before then, he advised contractors to be on ground till January 31  as those who fail to  perform their duties effectively till the end of the month would not receive their January payment.

The Tide was reliably informed that the action of the agency cannot be unconnected with the failure of many of the refuse contractors to evacuate refuse leading to the huge refuse dumps now a common site in Port Harcourt.

Last year, the Rivers State governor mooted plans to raise the level of refuse evacuation in the city observing that his administration was yet to fully tackle the menace of waste in the metropolis.

The governor declared that his government would evolve measures that would reduce filth and indiscriminate dumping in the city.

Meanwhile, an expert in environmental engineering in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Dr Alex Akor has called on the  state government not to handover the management of waste to local councils.

Dr Akor was of the view that such policy would worsen the situation hence the need for the state government to maintain its supervisory role.

He insisted that waste management can generate fund for the state if the sector is managed properly in the area of waste recycling and billing of residents.