RSESA: Taking PH Back To Garden City Status

Never before since
the Rivers State government established  the State Environmental Sanitation Authority, RSESA, has any individual or group hailed its operation in the  onerous  task of rekindling  the past glory of Port Harcourt as the Garden City of the country.
If for anything else, the RSESA in the years past has only been seen  in the eyes of the public as a government  agency out to intimidate the citizens in the name of refuse collection and disposal.
In the past, the fear  of the  approach  of any sanitation vehicle  carrying  task force members was the beginning of wisdom by roadside traders and other vendors.
In fact, the sanitation Authority, according to one school  of thought, was gradually turning itself into a militant organisation because  their approach meant different things to different people on the streets.
They were being more feared than the regular  police who strode the streets of Port Harcourt, especially Diobu, officially or unofficially.
But barely four months ago, something strange happened in the RSESA as people  have begun singing new tunes in appreciation of efforts put in place by the  present handlers of the Authority in the area of waste management.
Recently, our correspondent ran into the councilor representing ward 12 in the Obio/Akpor LGA of the State and sought his opinion on the  situation in  recent times in Port Harcourt in general and Obio/Akpor in particular.
The councilor, Hon. Bright Amaewhule known for his no-nonsense  reaction on issues paid tribute to the Sole Administrator of the RSESA, Mr. Ade Adeogun.
According to him, before  Adeogun came on board there were places that refuse would remain for upwards of six hours and above but now the situation has changed.
He said he went down to his constituency  recently to ask them about the sanitary situation in the LGA and they said it was impressive.
“So I praise  the efforts of the new man and I hope he will be  available any time I want to speak  with him in his office, unlike his predecessors,” he said.
Also very recently at the launch of a sticker, “I love Port Harcourt City, Keep it Clean” at the Royal House of Grace Church International were Mr. Adeogun as guest. The General Overseer of the Church, Pastor Zilly Aggrey  while praising the efforts of Mr. Adeogun pledged support for the campaign.
Of course, this gesture by Apostle Aggrey indicates identification with success because  no man ever identities  with failure.
From the foregoing among other instance our correspondent sought audience with the Sole Administrator of the Authority to find out what was making the authority tick as compared to the past.
Olalekan Ige, spokesman  for the Authority who fielded questions from our correspondent gave an insight into the mechanics now put in place at the RSESA  to make it deliver on a positive  note.
On the sanitation situation in Port Harcourt since Mr. Ade Adeogun came on board, Ige said without  any shade  of doubt that the sanitation situation in Port Harcourt has greatly improved since the emergence of Mr. Ade Adeogun as Sole Administrator of the RSESA.
“And I can say with every sense of humility that the process of refuse  collection, management and general sanitation in Port Harcourt has been completely re-invented, the process has  been completely re-appraised  and re-evaluated.
“Therefore, now we can say with an air of authority that the issue among our service providers who  we call refuse contractors before has since increased.”
“When Adeogun took over as  Sole Administrator of RSESA, the total number of  compactors  owned  by refuse  contractors by then was less than 30 but as at today barely six months later, we have a capacity of service providers in excess of 100.”
“Our ability in refuse evacuation in any particular part of  Port Harcourt and its environs, hasimproved along with the ability of the service providers themselves  to function effectively.”
“The RSESA and the service providers have developed an effective working partnership as to how PH can be made cleaner.
Since  he came on board, he has held meeting with every major stakeholder in refuse disposal and waste management,” Ige said.
“He has met with market leaders, Church  leaders, Muslim leaders and all manner of people in an effort aimed at ensuring  that he has the co-operation, he has the partnership of every body in Rivers State.
“One thing the Sole Administrator has done is underlying the fact that it is PH people that will actually make PH clean.
“He has been emphatic that it is PH people  who will decide and say, look we should make Port Harcourt clean.
“Our job is more or less a support service so to say because when you keep your environment clean you give us less  headache, you give us less stress to be able  to evacuate  refuse.”
On bagging of refuse by residents of PH, Ige noted that “one  of the things we have continued to preach is the issue of bagging of refuse.”
We want to encourage residents of PH and Rivers  State to ensure they bag their refuse and drop them at designated points and receptacles to enable  our service providers to evacuate them promptly.
“So, we emphasise  the fact that the time for you to dump your refuse  remains 6pm to 12 noon and the residents of Port Harcourt to come, drop their refuse properly, bagged  and dropped and thereafter our service providers can come and evacuate.”
In terms of re-engineering to ensure a cleaner PH, we  can say that the Sole Administrator has actually achieved a major  landmark.
“Well, we are not where  we want to be in terms of the ability of residents to be able to seperate  their waste, even before they leave their  homes for business.
Waste that are plastic, and waste that  are just normal food left  over should be separated.
We want people to imbibe  that culture of being able to segregate (separate) their  waste because when you do that, you make the job easier for the RSESA.
We are beginning to make  people bag their refuse now and that is the major revolution we want to pursue now.
You know, it is a step by step thing and we are currently encouraging people to bag their  waste.
In a way we  are achieving milestones  for people  bagging  their waste, we are  achieving results in many areas.
And of course, very soon, we are going to do a pilot scheme in Diobu area so  we already have the service provider that has taken over Diobu as a whole.
The job of the service provider should be one that encourages people to  bag their  refuse  and to do what we call door to door collection  of refuse in Rivers State.
Once we  are  able to do that,  it means we  would continue to achieve major milestones in everything we do. On commendations of the RSESA from some quarters, Ige observed that inasmuch as we want to thank those who are commending it, the Authority is doing it  best, adding that, “even our best at the moment  is not good enough as to what is our vision, as to what is our aspirations in terms of the legacy we want to leave behind.”