The weekly sanitation
exercise which is being observed by traders in major Port Harcourt markets and its environs has in the past months since it came into effect improved the sanitary condition of the various markets.
Investigations carried out by The Tide correspondent recently indicate that the usual heaps of refuse and waste that characterised the markets have reduced to the bearest minimum.
According to Miss Mercy Johnbull, a pineapple whole-sale dealer, “since we began doing sanitation every Thursday, the market environment does not get dirty like before,” she said.
According to her, formerly mile one market was a no go area as heaps of refuse (opposite the police station) remained there for days.
The Tide investigations reveal that every Thursday, trucks from service providers who work under the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority (RSESA) move round the various markets in the metropolis to evacuate waste.
At the motor spare parts market, which has possed a major challenge to the RSESA in the management of waste, the traders there have turned a new leaf as the area has worn a new look, an indication according to our correspondent’s investigation that the traders there were complying with the Thursday weekly sanitation exercise.
A trader, Mr. Boniface Obinna who deals on motor spare parts and other accessories said their major challenge was that waste generated from the market was solid.
He commended the efforts of the RSESA under the supervision of Mr. Ade Adeogun, the Sole Administrator of the outfit even as he called on traders to sustain the tempo to ensure that the sanitation boss succeeds in sanitising the area.
At mile three market, the story was the same as one of the traders, Mr. Celestine Okoha who operates an eatery at the motor park said the Thursday clean-up exercise was a welcome development.
According to him, initially the traders were not co-operating but now they no longer waited for any government official to compel them to clean their environment.
When contacted on the issue, spokesmen for the RSESA, Mr. Olalekan Ige confirmed that the weekly sanitation exercise was the brain-child of the authority under the present management.
He said the authority would not relent in the area of sensitising the public on the need for a clean environment even as he pledged the support of the authority to the traders in that direction.