Refuse Pile Up In Rivers

The increasing piles of refuse building up in corners of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital have become a source of concern for residents and health watchers.
Our correspondent who moved around parts of the city reported that a lot of the refuse heaps were usually left unattended for several days by waste disposal teams of the Rivers State waste management Agency, whose duty is to clear the refuse and transport them to designated waste dumps on the outskirts of the city.
The Rivers State Capital, once acclaimed as the Garden City of Nigeria is now being derisively referred to as the Garbage City because of the refuse dumps that litter everywhere.
In some neighbourhoods, the refuse are dumped on road medians while at designated dumping grounds, the heaps have grown so high that they fall into the roads and make movement along such areas difficult for motorists.
This environmental hazard, our correspondent reported, apart from having health issues could also become a leading cause of road accidents if left unchecked.
An official of Rivers State waste Management Agency, who did not want his name in print, tried to explain the situation to our.
According to him, many residents do not obey the rules governing dumping of refuse in Port Harcourt. He said there is a rule that people should dump refuse only between 6 and 10pm so that those who collect the refuse would come at night to evacuate them.
He explained that most of the refuse seen during daytime were refuse dumped after the refuse had been cleared at night, which was against the rule. He also explained that some of the contractors whose duty was clear the refuse had faulty trucks that had not been able to fix them to keep up with their duties.
But some residents disputed the claim of the RIWAMA official. They said since the governor was suspended and an interim government set up in the state, truckers have been irregular to clear the refuse.
However in some parts of the city, residents acknowledged that waste collectors had been regular. One of them said he could confirm the presence of waste disposal trucks at Mile 3 and Mile 4 respectively.
At the D-Line axis, Abeokuta Street and NITEL office refuse dumps were still unpacked at the time of the report.