The Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority (RSESA), says it would partner with Kinabuti, an international NGO in an effort  toward the improvement of the sanitary conditions of Bundu Water Front in Port Harcourt.

Spokesman for the Authority, Mr Olalekon Ige who made this known to newsmen shortly after last Saturday’s sanitation exercise said the NGO wrote to RSESA in respect to that effect.

“They wrote to the Sanitation Authority that they would be carrying out a sanitation exercise at Bundu water front”, he said.

According to Ige, as a responsible organisation, it had no choice but to partner with the NGO.

He said since Kinabuti had taken it upon itself to go to Bundu and carry out such exercise without promptings from any quarters, “why won’t we as a responsive and responsible organisation  join them in that effort”

While acknowledging the impressive turnout of residents of Bundu waterfront in the sanitation exercise, the RSESA spokesman said “Bundu used to be very dirty and today it is better than what it used to be”.

“We want people to take ownership of sanitation because it is the people’s responsibility and not that of the Authority as the Authority plays a supervisory role”, he said.

On why the bill seeking to change the name of the RSESA to Rivers State Waste Management Authority (RSWMA) suffered a setback at the State Assembly, Mr Ige said the House in its wisdom had taken a look at some aspects of the bill and that it required some fine tuning.

It would be recalled that the executive bill seeking a change in nomenclature of the sanitation authority was presented to the House by Hon. Victoria Nyeche who is also the chairman,  House Committee on Environment.

The House in its decision said it needed to take “a deep breath” on the Waste Management Authority Bill to enable it address most of the concerns raised by the lawmakers.