By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Residents of Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, have raised alarm over heaps of refuse that have taken over the state capital city despite N68 million budgeted for environmental sanitation in the first quarter of this year.
But despite the budget, the state from findings from NatureNews has failed in maintaining proper sanitation in the capital city, Port Harcourt.
According to the figures gotten from the 2022 QTR 1 BUDGET PERFORMANCE REPORT (JAN – MAR), 826,928,965.02 naira was spent as expenditure for administrative classification.
But in recent months, Port Harcourt which used to be described as the ‘Gardencity’ is now becoming a ‘Garbage city.’
This is evident as a result of some areas of the city are now having heaps of refuse and overflow of dirts on the roads.
Also, the Rivers State government terminated the contract with all private waste contractors effective from 29 April 2022, which followed the resignation of the sole Administrator of RIWAMA, Felix Obuah.
The decision to terminate their contract with the Rivers State Management Agency (RIWAMA), stems from their inability to fulfil the contractual agreement.
To ameliorate the situation, Gov Nyesom Wike constituted a five-man tasks force to quickly address the worsening sanitation situation in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of the state.
“Members of the Task Force on Sanitation are: Hon Isoboye Jack (chairman); Hon. Josiah Olu; Hon. Victor Ihunwo; Prince Wali Wosu; and Princess Ibiene Ogan,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area informed that it has spent a whooping N800,000 daily to evacuate waste in the city.
Secretary of the council, Chile Owuru said this while playing host to members of the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Eco who paid a courtesy visit over the waste/dirt ravaging parts of the metropolis.
Owuru, who represented the chairman of the council, explained that the steps have, however, been taken to salvage the situation.
“Upon realising that there are no refuse dumpsites in PHALGA, the council created some, one at the Njemanze area of the city.
“Part of the measures the mayor has adopted is making every government appointee in the council an automatic member of the sanitation committee with the responsibility of monitoring waste disposal in their neighbourhood”, the statement read in part.
Owuru’s statement affirms Gov Wike’s statement in 2018 where he informed that the state government spends a whopping N500 million monthly on the management of waste and sanitation in the state.
The Governor explained that the situation is not because the government has not done enough but blamed it on poor sanitation habit of the people who he said take delight in littering the refuse dumps immediately after they were cleared.
In an interview with Rita Tariah, owner of a waste company in Port Harcourt, confirmed that most officials of RIWAMA on duty fail to promptly evacuate refuse from the road.
According to her, some private companies sometimes help to evacuate the refuse.
Speaking on what could possibly be the problem, Tariah stated that most workers might be suffering non-payment of salaries or can be underpaid.
She, however, urged the state government to continue to create more efforts to make the state clean through proper waste management system.
Meanwhile, efforts to speak with an official of RIWAMA proved abortive.