The Sole Administrator of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA), Bro Felix Obuah, has terminated the contracts of all the desilting contractors engaged by the agency.
Obuah announced this after a meeting with the concerned contractors, last Monday, in Port Harcourt.
According to the sole administrator, the sack, which is with immediate effect, became necessary due to the lukewarm attitude of the desilting contractors to their job.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, yesterday, and made available to The Tide, Obuah said, the agency can no longer allow the contractors continue to flout its directives with impunity.
Obuah stated that same stubbornness of the contractors was partly responsible for the regrettable flooding being recorded in parts of the state.
He regretted that after expending so much money to pay them for their services, the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, was particularly disturbed that they were unable to discharge their duties of evacuating wastes from drainages and waterways creditably, thereby plunging the state capital and its environs into avoidable flooding in recent times.
The sole administrator also frowned at the continued disposal of solid wastes into drainages and waterways by residents, and warned that the agency would no longer tolerate the dumping of solid wastes indiscriminately.
Obuah said that the action will serve as a deterrent to other contractors who may be contemplating flouting the agency’s directives with impunity.
Meanwhile, the Sole Administrator of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA), Bro. Felix Obuah, has described the flooding which swept through parts of Port Harcourt and its environs over the weekend as unfortunate and highly regrettable.
Obuah, in a statement in Port Harcourt, last Monday, explained that the unfortunate flooding  which rendered some people homeless and destroyed properties, was the handiwork of people who refused to heed to several warnings regarding indiscriminate dumping of refuse.
The sole administrator regretted that RIWAMA had through several fora, warned residents and those doing business in the state against the dumping of solid wastes and unused construction materials into drainages and other water channels, but that such warnings had always been ignored.
“This is a very sad and calamitous situation but it would also have been avoided, if all the warnings and appeals from the agency had been heeded.
“Recall that RIWAMA had made repeated advertorials, audio and visual jingles, messages and awareness campaigns to no avail. These efforts apparently fell on deaf ears, leading to the avoidable situation we have found ourselves”, Obuah lamented.
Obuah, while sympathizes with the victims of the flood disaster, further called on residents and those doing business in the state to adhere to environmental rules by not throwing garbage into drainages and waterways, to allow for the free flow of water.
He further called on the people to reciprocate the efforts of Governor Nyesom Wike, who has given all necessary support to the agency, to keep the state clean and healthy at all times.
The sole administrator also charged traders to play pivotal role in keeping the city clean, by working in synergy to ensure the implementation of government’s policy to make Port Harcourt and its environs flood-free.
The RIWAMA boss appealed to traders to make it a routine to properly bag their wastes and dump them at approved government receptacles only, within designated hours, charging them to report recalcitrant ones among them to the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) for immediate action.
Obuah also advised traders who sell in the evenings, especially in Mile One, Mile Three, Rumuokoro, Creek Road, Ogbunabali, Rumuomasi, Trans-Amadi (Slaughter), Garrison, Water-Lines, Amadi-Ama Roundabout, YKC Roundabout in Woji, Rumuodara, Eneka, Oyigbo, Eleme, among others, to clean their areas before leaving the markets, while ensuring that wastes are not dumped indiscriminately.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana