Residents of Umuahia, the Abia State
capital, have said they face health risk if
the growing dumps of refuse in various
parts of the city are not immediately
evacuated.
Southern City News observed that most
refuse buckets positioned at strategic
locations in the cities had been burnt by
residents in their attempt to decongest
the overflowing wastes.
The sanitary situation in the state, it
was gathered, worsened following the
failure of the Waste Management
Agency to pay workers’ salaries for
months.
A resident who pleaded anonymity
called on government to take urgent
steps to remedy the situation to avoid
an outbreak of epidemic in the city.
He blamed the worsening sanitary
situation “on party patronage”, arguing
that waste management should be top
on the priority list of government.
He also said the non-introduction of two
systems of refuse disposal contributed
to the worsening situation.
“The state should introduce degradable
and non-degradable items and convert
the degradable to manure and with the
manure, begin the manufacture of
organic fertiliser while the non-
degradable should be buried,” he said.
Another resident, a housewife said,
“Even the Bible says that cleanliness is
next to godliness”, wondering why Abia,
which prides as the number one state,
could not be number one in cleanliness.
She said, “I wonder when we
degenerated to this level. The stench
alone is unbearable. Refuse has almost
taken over the roads making it difficult
for vehicles to pass. It is really a
disaster.
“Government should call those who are
supposed to evacuate the waste to
inject more competent hands if they can
no longer do their jobs.”
When contacted, the General Manager
of the Abia State Environmental
Protection Agency, Mr. Iyke Apugo, said
the lack of funds was affecting the
operations of the agency.
He said the drop in the allocation
accruing to the state had badly affected
the operations of the agency.
Apugo noted that despite the non-
availability of funds, employees of the
agency had been trying to prevent it
from becoming worse.
He pleaded with residents to exercise
patience as efforts were being made by
government to tackle the situation.
Apugo said the new government in the
state was trying to settle and had not
received any allocation, assuring that
the situation would soon be addressed.

http://www.punchng.com/city-news-feature/refuse-heaps-trigger-fear-in-umuahia/

Refuse? That one na small thing, you should see their roads this rainy season then u ll know that umuahia is fvcked.