RIWAMA To Sanction Hotels Over Waste Disposal Habits

The Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) has threatened to sanction hotels that engage the services of unregistered service providers for the evacuation of refuse.
Sole Administrator of the Agency, Felix Obuah, who handed down the warning during a meeting of hotel managers in Port Harcourt, said such action was negatively affecting the effort of the agency in making the state capital one of the cleanest in Nigeria.
He disclose that henceforth the agency will constitute a task force to check hoteliers who dump their waste at unauthorized places.
“His Excellency (the State Governor) has frowned seriously on these actions. We are going to invite all hoteliers. Those of them who are not here today and who are not privileged to hear from me directly, I wish them the best because I am forming a team that will monitor your operations.
“Most of you channel your drains right into the gutters. All your waste from your kitchen and everything you link it directly which is not acceptable.
“There is no need behaving like touts. If we have discovered areas you are not doing well, the best thing is for mutual understanding. Hoteliers, managers, directors, please why don’t we do it this way?
He, therefore, solicited the support of hoteliers in the State towards the success of the present administration’s efforts to return Port Harcourt to the Garden City Status, while urging them to ensure that their refuse disposal agents are registered with the agency.
“Who remove your waste? Where is your dumpsite? Who are the service providers? We should know all these things so that after now if you are the one who remove your waste, you say we do it directly. Okay where do you dump this waste?
Obuah expressed unhappiness that some hotel owners were part of the problem, saying most of the waste being generated and dumped at unauthorized places are from their business places.
“Most of you may not be aware, some of you too are also aware that most of these waste being generated are dumped at non-designated areas by hoteliers,” the RIWAMA boss stated.
He stated that anyone caught violating the agency’s directive would be arrested and prosecuted according to sanitation laws.
Some of the hoteliers who spoke at the forum, including the State Chairman, Nigerian Hoteliers Association, Eugene Nwauzi, Secretary of the body, Napoleon Koko all lauded the agency for the meeting which they describe as timely and a welcome development.

Dennis Naku