Rivers set for crackdown on refuse defaulters, extends disposal time to midnight

As refuse begins to grow into mounds on the streets of Port Harcourt, the management of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) has launched a crackdown on anybody dumping refuse indiscriminately.

The agency said people were now dumping refuse on the median or at unauthorised places in Port Harcourt and would be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law establishing the agency.

This is as Felix Obuah, the sole administrator of the Agency, has come up with new allowed time for waste disposal in the state, now between the hours of 7pm – 12 midnight. He said the new order and time take effect from Tuesday, May 17, 2016.

In a statement from his media aide, Jerry Needam, the chairman said; “The public is also notified by the new order that monitors have been instructed and empowered to embark on regular monitoring of all the streets, roads and designated receptacles to ensure strict compliance”.

“Similarly, scavengers who go about tearing bin liners and, or refuse bags and containers, in search of usable materials thereby littering the streets with wastes, are also warned to desist from such unwholesome acts or be reprimanded”, he went on..

Obuah further pleaded with all residents of the Garden City to join hands with Governor Nyesom Wike in his efforts to keep the State clean and safe from avoidable health hazards and diseases.