COMMISSIONER WARNS AGAINST INDISCRIMINATE REFUSE DISPOSAL

The Commissioner for Environment and Mineral Resources, Obong Eno Akpan has warned residents in Uyo Metropolis against indiscriminate disposal of waste in the capital city.
Obong Akpan gave the warning recently during a meeting with contractors and other stakeholders in waste management.
He condemned a situation whereby refuse was allowed to accumulate at the receptacles without evacuation and dumping of refuse at undesignated places.
Obong Akpan noted that efforts were being made to reinvigorate the Environment Courts to prosecute defaulters and charged the refuse contractors to ensure adequate evacuation of refuse heaps and desilting of gutters in the city.
According to him, poor management waste negates the government’s commitment to make the state a tourist destination and assured that henceforth environment enforcement officers would undertake house to house inspection to ascertain the sanitary condition of the various homes in the city, while monthly environmental sanitation exercise will soon be enforced.
In her remarks, the Director Waste Management and Pollution, Mrs. Alice Udoh said that poor handling of waste constitute a threat to the ecosystem and produce a hazardous effect to the health of the citizens.
She noted that some residents form the habit of throwing their wastes into the gutters thereby blocking the drainages and produce flood and harped on the need to desilt them.
The Division Head, Waste Management Department, Mr. Christopher Okoro who took a swipe at the attitude of tipper drivers involved in the waste evacuation exercise called for a review of the stipends provided for waste contractors and urged them to cooperate with the ministry in its commitment to keep the state capital clean and tidy.
Speaking on behalf of the contractors Engr. Sunday Umoh of DRANIBS Engineering sued for a review of the financial package to aid in the sanitation of the metropolis.