Owerri Refuse Menace: Epidemic Outbreak Imminent

The fear of epidemic aris
ing from the heaps of ‘refuse’ at Douglas Road has gripped residents of owerri, the Imo State capital.
The mountain of ‘refuse’ dumped at the busy Douglas Road for a while now has made life within that axis very unbearable as motorists and other road users presently make use of one lane.
When The Tide visited the area, it was discovered that the ‘refuse’ has taken over a sizeable portion of the Douglas Road, stretching from Mbaise Road Junction to the end of the popular Saint Paul’s Catholic Church gate.
Residents, who spoke with The Tide, expressed sadness over the failure of the Governor Rochas Okorocha-led government to live up to its responsibilities, which according to them, must include keeping the state neat so as to prevent any form of epidemic in Imo State.
Some traders from Ekeukwu-Owerri and Nworie Lane, Douglas Road, stated that the refusal of the government to evacuate the ‘refuse heap’ was a calculated attempt to punish them for not allowing the governor to forcefully demolish their shops, adding that any sudden eruption of an epidemic would never be discriminatory.
It could be recalled that an Anglican Priest from Owerri Diocese, Rev Cannon Uche Chinaemerem, celebrated his Independence Day at the centre of the refuse dump, which attracted the attention of many concerned individuals and bodies, appealing to the government to evacuate the refuse without delay.
The Tide learnt that the 30th August and 30th September, 2016, previously fixed by the Imo State Government to relocate the markets to Egbeada in Owerri West Local Government Area were resisted by both the traders and the Owerri indigenes through High Court injunctions, referring the affected markets as “Ancestral”.
However, a statement by the Chief Press Secretary of the State Governor, Sam Onwuemeodo, said that the abandonment of the ‘refuse’ was as a result of a court injunction restraining the government from relocating the markets.
But residents have faulted the sudden refusal of the governor to respect the court orders on the markets.
They recalled that the same governor had accepted previous court orders compelling him to re-instate the sacked 27 elected LG chairmen and numerous councilors, former chairman of Imo Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Illomuanya and 10,000 youth workers duly employed by the former governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim.
Meanwhile, efforts of member representing Owerri Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Hon. Ezenwa Onyewuchi, Senator Samuel Anyanwu and Dr Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu to evacuate the huge ‘refuse’ with the use of ‘private contractors’ were alleged to have been rebuffed by the government as security operatives clashed with Owerri youth who attempted to help private contractors remove the refuse, October 11.
It was gathered that before the evacuation exercise, Ezenwa, had held a brief interaction with the market traders where he intimated them of plans to remove the ‘refuse’ the following day via private contractors.
Impressed by the effort, the traders had promised to give the contractors all the needed co-operation to enable them succeed.

Valentine Nduka, Owerri