The Sole Administrator, Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA), Mr Felix Obuah, has warned that the agency will clamp down on scavengers who have defied sanitation rules in the state.
Obuah issued the warning in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Jerry Needam, made available to newsmen on Thursday in Port Harcourt.
According to him, the continued littering of roads by scavengers who operate at various dump sites within Port Harcourt City and environs, has become worrisome.
“Scavengers operating within Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital and its environs, have continued to deface the city, despite series of warning by the state’s waste management agency.
“While waste managers strive towards achieving prompt waste disposal and sanity within the city, scavengers on the other hand have been sabotaging these laudable efforts,” he said.
The sole administrator said the scavengers had continued to root out already disposed waste and litter the city with heaps of refuse.
“The agency will no longer tolerate flagrant flouting of the laws and restrictions on scavenging which constitutes a menace to road users.
“Their actions have continued to jeopardise all efforts to keep the state clean. Henceforth, we shall arrest and prosecute all sanitation law offenders,” Obuah said.
The RIWAMA boss noted with dismay, a situation where some people unlawfully released some scavengers who were arrested for flouting the state’s sanitation rules.
“We have had an experience in the past where some security personnel forcefully came to demand for the release of those arrested for flouting sanitation rules,” he said.
The sole administrator said such acts would no longer be tolerated in the state.
“Nobody is above the laws of the state. Defaulters in this regard would be decisively dealt with,” Obuah added. (NAN)
