The Monitoring Team of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) on Enlightenment/ Sensitisation on indiscriminate dumping of refuse, dumping time and indiscriminate dumping of refuse on market sanitation days continued its visits to markets and other public places, with a visit to Oginigba, Rumuobiakani communities and their environs in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State.
The team, which was led by the Sole Administrator of the agency, Bro. Felix Obuah, watched with approval as traders and residents who were taken unawares by the visit, hurried to sweep and pick up debris on the roads and around the gutters.
Represented by the Director of Environmental Health/Operations, Mrs. Helen Ohaka, Bro. Obuah appealed to residents to ensure their environments are kept clean at all times, warning that the Agency frowns seriously on indiscriminate dumping of refuse, non-observance of dumping hours and littering of markets with debris.
A statement signed by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser to the Sole Administrator on Media and Publicity quoted Obuah as saying that sanitation marshalls had been dispatched to arrest those who dispose refuse indiscriminately, especially at the median of roads and warned that any one arrested would be charged before the Sanitation Court.
The RIWAMA boss noted that almost every day, the agency embarks on public enlightenment and sensitisation campaigns against indiscriminate dumping of wastes, waste management and educating the people on dumping time of 6pm to 12midnight, stating that the task of keeping the roads, markets and other public places clean and healthy at all times must be done by all and sundry.
The Sole Administrator, who reaffirmed his stance that those who flout sanitation rules are enemies of the State, stressed that residents and those living and doing business in Port Harcourt, the state capital and its environs have no excuse to dump refuse indiscriminately as receptacles have been strategically positioned close to business and residential places.
He appealed to traders and residents to join hands with the State government to keep the streets, markets and other public places clean at all times.
Obuah who warned that the Agency would not fold its hands and watch unpatriotic agents sabotage the efforts of RIWAMA, urged residents and traders to reciprocate the good efforts of Governor Wike who is working tirelessly to sustain the Garden City status of the state.
The RIWAMA boss also warned traders to stop bringing out wastes outside government approved dumping hours of 6pm to 12midnight, on account of Thursdays Market Sanitation.