RSESA Bans Street Hawking In Two LGAs

The Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority (RSESA)
has banned street hawking in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor Local Government
Areas of the state.

The spokesman of the authority, Mr Olalekan Ige, who
disclosed this in an interview in Port Harcourt yesterday, said that the ban
would take effect from September. 1.

Ige said that defaulters would be fined or jailed by mobile
courts, adding that the fine would range between N5,000 and N15,000.

He said hawkers generated a lot of refuse on daily basis by
littering the major streets and roads in the affected area.

“Essentially, this is to ensure that we continue to maintain
the cleanliness of Port Harcourt as a city.

“We have discovered that these hawkers are partly
responsible for what we have on major roads in Port Harcourt as far as refuse
is concerned.

“We have discovered that quite a lot of them just sell these
things to those who are in their various vehicles, and these people when they
eat or take whatever they buy from these hawkers, they dump them right in the
middle of the road.

“And that gives us a huge headache every day, every morning
when we come back to sweep the road.

“It is illegal to actually hawk on the major streets of Port
Harcourt, but we have decided to implement the relevant sections of the edict
setting up the sanitation authority.”

“But, we do not just want people to pay these fines, we hope
and believe that our brothers and sisters who hawk on the major streets of Port
Harcourt and Obio/Akpor Local Governments will help us by obeying this very
simple order.

“So, it will be better if they just obey this order by
vacating the major streets of Port Harcourt come September 1.”

He said the authority would also clamp down on people
selling along the major streets of Port Harcourt, especially those who block
traffic.

Ige said the authority had removed and demolished all
illegal structures and unauthorised traders for causing obstruction to traffic
in the city.