Towards a hitch-free weekly environmental sanitation exercise at Port Harcourt Parks and Markets, Mile I, market traders have asked for adequate security during the exercise.

The Secretary Task Force on Sanitation, Mile I market, Alhaji Kola Adeleke made the request, Thursday, doing the weekly sanitation exercise.

He said the request had become necessary because of the series of threat and harassment the task force members received from traders in the course of caring out their duties.

“There are some traders who will not abide by the rules. Some of them are ready to fight us with knifes or any thing. They see us as being incapable of doing anything to them. But assuming there are police men working with us, everybody will do what is expected of him or her”. And this will make us achieve better results,” he said.

Alhaji Adeleke enjoined traders to cultivate the habit of keeping the market clean noting that such attitude would help them maintain the new market building when they moved into it.

He also advised the traders to always ensure proper  collection and disposal of their refuse to prevent the refuse from filling the drainages there by causing flooding.

He said Gov Chibuike Amaechi has spent huge sum of money constructing roads and drainages and residents of the state, particularly traders could only show appreciation by keeping sure that they drainages  were not filled up with wastes.

Also speaking, the chairman Mile  One Market  Traders Association, (MOMTA), Rumuiwoji zone, Chief Livinus  Ezeh said provision of police men during the clean up exercise with the mandate to prosecute  defaulters at environmental court would help them achieve more positive results.

Meanwhile, last Thursday’s clean up exercise witnessed an impressive turn out of traders.

At  Mile I market traders, both men and women were seen cleaning their surroundings and dumping the refuse inside a vehicle stationed in front of the market.

Some of them were grateful to the state government for introducing the exercise. The Manager, Police Officers Wives Association (POWA)  Car Park, Mile I, Mr Uche Chukwu Uwalaka said, “I am happy for this Thursday’s clean up exercise. It  makes the market clean.

Initially, we were finding it difficult but now, we have seen the benefiting and no reasonable trader who appreciates good things waits to  be reminded or forced to take part in the exercise”.

Similarly, Mrs Ngozi Obiadi Ndu said the exercise is a good initiative which makes the market clean and  tidy. She however pointed out, that some traders do not take the exercise  serious. Such  people she said, would either come to the market-and refuse to join in the exercise ion remain in their houses and come towards the end of the exercise and pretend to be part of it.

The situation was however different at Mile 3 market where many of  the traders gathered in groups chatting while waiting for 10 am (end of the exercise) to open their shops and display their goods.

There were heaps of refuse being evacuated  by some volunteers  and a handful of wheel barrow pushers.

A trader,  Mr. Uche Onye attributed that to non-availability of a disposal vehicle to evacuate the refuse. He said that in other to ensure proper evacuation of the refuse, the Market union executive  members, hired the barrow pushers at the cost of N50.00 per one barrow load of refuse.

The union also pays N20.00 per a barrow load of refuse before the barrow pushers  were allowed to dump the refuse in a dump site at Abuja Bye pass which alegeldy belongs to Rumu elechi family.

He called for more active participation of the environmental sanitation authority to make the market clean and reduce the money spent by the union to make the market clean.

Calista Ezeaku