ASEPA lauds Ikpeazu over measure on Abia refuse strategy

The recent intervention measures by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu over the huge refuse heaps in Umuahia and the sanitary condition of the State capital has been commended by the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA.

Speaking with newsmen in Umuahia, the General Manager of the agency, Prince Ikechukwu Apugo, thanked the state chief executive for coming to the aid of the agency by setting up an intervention team that will assist it keep the state capital and other towns in the state clean.

The state governor, he said, would not want to preside over sick people, hence his choice of health as one of his pillars of development, stating that the cleanliness of state capital, Umuahia, Aba, Ohafia and other areas of the state has become his priority.

Apugo, however, regretted the attitude of Abia people in their quest to dispose of their refuse, stating that they usually destroy the few refuse bins across the state by deliberating pouring hot and inflammable materials into them, which leads to fire outbreak in the bins.

He said that though the intervention team is an ad hoc one and therefore temporal, ASEPA would sustain their work.

The ASEPA boss however acknowledged that there are few challenges facing them in the discharge of their duties, highlighting them to include lack of refuse bins and disposal trucks, stating that the availability of the logistics would go a long way to enable the agency sustain the tempo with which the intervention team has worked.

He regretted that residents also deliberately litter the streets with their refuse instead of acquiring and using the nylon disposal bags as provided by ASEPA in the state, warning that the agency and the state government would not tolerate the habit any longer.

Apugo used the opportunity to appeal to the state government to help it acquire more disposal trucks and refuse bins to enable the agency do their job effectively pointing out that the few ones they have are in a state of disrepair and dilapidated respectively.

In an interview with some staff of the agency who preferred to speak on the condition of anonymity, they said that the work of disposal of refuse in the state is telling on the workers who now buy their hand gloves and other working implements like knives and shovel by themselves while absence of rain boots and work gear has been exposing them to health hazards, especially guinea worm infection.

The workers who acknowledged that they are not being owed any salaries, used the opportunity to thank the state government over their welfare which they said he does not toy with, pleading that the Governor should assist them by providing disposal trucks and refuse bins, as well as other work materials for the to do their job effectively, stating their readiness to “do the job they love most”.

According to some residents in Umuahia like, Ojo Nkete, Uche John and Steve Gbaram, the re-emergence3 of the Isi Gate market would be a big hindrance over effective refuse disposal by ASEPA in Umuahia metropolis, stating that the state government must ensure that the market is no longer in existence.

According to them, the sight of the huge refuse generated by the market people and the manner in which the traders dispose of refuse will compound the work of the agency and as well deface the state capital, portraying the state in bad light.

They called the state government to declare a state of emergency on refuse management in the state and find out a way of turning the huge waste into wealth.