Residents of Aba in Abia have cried out to Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) over its alleged refusal to evacuate the mounting refuse in the city, with the fear of epidemic.
Some of the residents who spoke to NAN in separate interviews on Tuesday feared that lives of residents were in danger following the agency’s alleged refusal to cart away heaps of refuse around Aba for about two weeks now.
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Nkwachi Micheal, a resident of Faulks Road told NAN that abandoning refuse at collection points had raised health risks for residents, because the heaps contained fecal matter from some homeless people.
“And as it rains now, such materials are carried by flood water and shared across the town which exposes all of us to high health risks.
“Yet ASEPA does not mind coming even in the night to collect ASEPA levy from us; but to do their job of keeping the town clean and healthy for residents, they will not do it.
“You can see the heaps of refuse all over the town lying on the roads from Aba-Owerri Road to Faulks Road to Port Harcourt Road and to all parts of the town. I don’t know if they are on holidays.
“This shows that the government of Abia does not care for the health and well-being of Abia residents and it is very bad if we voted for people who would kill us eventually,” he said.
Onyeze Nnadozie, a resident of Owerre-Aba near Ngwa Road, said that the presence of ASEPA was not felt at all in the area except that they come to collect money from residents.
“We at Ohanku to Owerre-Aba, we don’t complain again because they abandoned us long ago and have not given us any receptacles for refuse disposal there.
“What we do is bag our refuse and find a way of moving it to Ngwa Road and dispose of it or if the compound has space, they will open the ground and be pouring their waste inside it,” he said.
Ben Ononenyi, another resident of Cemetery Road said Cemetery Road by Railway near Ogbonna Road had a refuse heap that had built up for more than one year.
He said the flies that the refuse breeds had been a menace to them and their health and urged Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu to send ASEPA to remove the refuse heap.
A reputable Aba resident who did not want his name in print said his plea to some agents of Abia State Government he contacted on the removal of the refuse heaps fell on deaf ears.
He said the dirtiness in the state had made him to keep his family away from the city, though he is an Abia indigene with a house in Aba.
When contacted by NAN to make comments on the development, ASEPA’s General Manager, Sam Okwulehia, refused to talk. (NAN)
