Bill to Prosecute Sanitation Offenders Underway

Henceforth sanitation offenders would attract to themselves a maximum of three months jail sentence or community service, if the proposed bill on sanitation exercise sails through on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The Chairman, Committee on Environment in the State House Assembly, Hon Victoria Nyeche who gave the hint at the weekend in Port Harcourt, said the law had become necessary to check dirty habits among residents in the state.

She expressed dismay at the manner people dump refuse indiscriminately particularly right on the middle of motorable roads in Port Harcourt and its environs.

This unwhosome habit, she said, must have to stop, adding that the law establishing the  Monthly Sanitation Exercise would be tightened to prosecute offenders to either three months community service or jail sentence as punishment to offenders  Hon Nyeche observed that waste were dumped indiscriminately  by some people living in residential areas instead of the designated dump sites provided by the state environmental  sanitation authority.

She argued that the slogan of “Keeping Port Harcourt clean’ could not be left alone to the state government, adding that it required the cooperation of all and sundry.

The lawmaker urged multi-national companies operating in the state to partner the state government in the fight against environmental degradation and waste management.

She commended the state environmental sanitation authority for its assertive approach by appointing several contractors to sustain the tempo of the newly introduced neighbourhood sanitation in the state.

She noted that the proactive approach had gradually changed the dirty habit of many residents in the city.

In another development, the state environmental sanitation authority, says it might be forced to close down the   Creek Road Market in the state.

Speaking to newsmen, shortly after the monitoring of this month’s sanitation exercise, the state Chairman of Environmental Sanitation Authority, Hon Isobo Jack, explained that the action had become necessary because of the indiscriminate dumping of refuse at the Creek Road Market.

According to him, several warnings and by officials of the authority to discourage traders trading along the Creek Road Market, had not yielded result.

He observed that apart from blocking the flow of vehicular traffic, the traders had developed the habit of indiscriminately dumping  refuge on motorable roads.

Hon Jack cautioned against trading along the Creek Road Market instead of the maximum use of the market stalls built by the Port Harcourt city council.

He maintained that the state Sanitation Authority would continue to intensify raid on illegal trading by traders along the  Creek Road Market.

A trader, Madam Igonifaar Fyneface blamed the traders who according to her, leave their market  stalls to trade along the road.

She suggested that  traders caught along the Creek Road Market should be prosecuted or arrested, instead of the Sanitation Authority threatening to close down the market.