Rivers Community Residents Turn Roadside Into Refuse Dumpsites

Some sections of the Eleme Junction-Igbo Etche Road in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State have been converted to refuse dumpsites.
Sources within Umuo-godo, the nearest community to the site informed The Tide that the situation had not only become an eyesore, but also threatening the health of the people.
According to the source, motorists are also finding it difficult to pass through the road as vehicles coming from opposite directions have to give way to each other before passing through the road.
An indigene of Umuodogo Community, who spoke under condition of anonymity, told The Tide in an interview that the refuse were usually dumped at nights by some residents in the area.
He also said some people threw their refuse into the dump from moving vehicles and wondered why people chose to dump refuse there despite a police signpost warning people not to dump refuse in the area.
A community leader in the area, Eze Ndubuisi Nwankwo said the situation might lead to outbreak of epidemic in the community if nothing was done.
Eze Nwankwo who is the Eze Odintananya of Etche Ethnic Nationality stressed the need for residents of the area to cultivate good sanitary habit and desist from dumping refuse in the area.
Also speaking, another resident, Ebere Stanley blamed the situation on the absence of a receptacle in the area.
He stressed the need for the community to choose another site far from residential quarters for the dumping of refuse as the site is too close to the road.
“I am appealing to the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) to provide refuse bins around communities in Igbo Etche.”
Ebere Stanley also called for sanctions against anyone caught dumping refuse in the area.
Another respondent Chidiebere Joseph said what was needed was attitudinal change, adding that people ought to know that it is not good to create a dumpsite along the road.
He said, the situation might create wrong impression about the community in the minds of those coming to Igbo-Etche for the first time.
“It is not good. They should relocate the site to another place,” he said.