The ongoing sensitization visits to markets and other public places by officials of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA), berthed at Rumuekini, Alakahia and Ogbogoro in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State on Tuesday.
The team, which was led by the Sole Administrator of the Agency, Bro. Felix Obuah, watched as traders who were apparently taken unawares by the visit, hurried to sweep and pick up debris in their sheds and around the gutters.
Represented by the Director of Environmental Health/Operations, Mrs. Helen Ohaka, Obuah ordered the traders to clean up gutters which were littered with refuse, warning that further acts of indiscriminate dumping of wastes would attract arrest and prosecution of defaulters by sanitation marshals.
Obuah regretted that the continued habit of dumping refuse at unauthorized places, is geared to frustrate the good efforts of the Agency, but assured that RIWAMA remains resolute and would not be deterred by activities of these individuals whom he described as unpatriotic traders.
Noting that only last month, the Agency embarked on a Public Enlightenment and Sensitization Campaign Against indiscriminate dumping of waste, waste management and dumping time of 6pm to 12midnight, the sole administrator restated that to keep the roads, markets and other public places clean and healthy at all times is a task that must be done by all and sundry.
Reaffirming his stance that those who flout sanitation rules are enemies of the State, Obuah stressed that residents and those doing business in Port Harcourt, the State capital and its environs have no excuse to dump refuse indiscriminately as receptacles have been strategically positioned close to business and residential places.
He appealed to traders and residents to join hands with the State government to keep the markets and other public places clean at all times.
Obuah reaffirmed the warning that the agency would not fold its hand and watch unpatriotic agents sabotage the works of RIWAMA, stressing that a surveillance team has been put in place to arrest and prosecute anyone found dumping wastes outside the approved hours of 6pm to 12 midnight.
