An engineering  expert,  Engr Edidiong Obot has called on Stakeholders to partner  the government  in curbing  solid  wastes  and pollution.
Obot, who  made the call while presenting a paper  titled, “Faecal Sludge  Management  in Port Harcourt”, during  the technical  section  of the monthly meeting  of the  Nigerian  Society  of Engineers (NSE), Port Harcourt branch  recently, said the strategy being  implored  by the government  cannot  succeed without the joint effort of the stakeholders in the sector.
The expert  noted that there should  be a joint effort by all stakeholders to overcome the challenges of feacal  sludge  management, adding that all hands must be on deck as the service chain  begins with  every individual from different  households.
He explained  that feacal sludge  management  is a sanitation service  chain that  eliminates  and reduces  the  contamination of the environment by  faecal  waste,  pointing  out that the format  being  practised  in Port Harcourt, Rivers State is not the best.
The engineer called on his colleagues  to ensure that proper building  code with respect to the containment systems should be adopted while developing  housing  designs  and those supervising  such projects with septic tanks and soak away pit.
“There are several stakeholders indentified in the provision of adequate faecal  sludge  management service in  Port Harcourt. We should be interested in knowing where our faecal  waste is disposed. Insist that it should be disposed at the approved treatment  plant”.
“Faecal Sludge has to be properly  treated to eliminate or  reduce the pathogen level to an  acceptable  standard  before  disposal  or re-use  in the environment”, he asserted.
Obot  therefore  called on the state government and other stakeholders for  a better  reform  method  adding , “To this end, Rivers State Government  during  the water sector reform process in 2013 constructed a first pilot treatment  plant at Eagle Island  to treat faecal sludge.

Collins Barasimeye