ABIA GOVERNMENT TO PENALIZE PEOPLE WHO LITTER THE ROADS

Abia State government has announced plans to arrest and penalize people who litter the environment, henceforth.

The Deputy General Manager of the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency ASEPA, Cathechist Ambrose Jonah disclosed this in an interaction with newsmen in his office in Umuahia on Wednesday.

This according to him is part of a broader effort by the present administration in the state to ensure clean environment. Cathechist Jonah regretted the attitude of people who throw waste indiscriminately, without minding its advers effect on the environment.

He said the government is planning to impose a fine of twenty thousand naira (N20,000), on anyone caught throwing waste material indiscriminately, be it water sachet or biscuits wraps.

“People will eat and drop anyhow. We are working hard to ensure we stop it. And we are putting up a fine, a fine of not less than N20,000 for a person that drops a sachet of whatever, be it pure water or biscuits.”

Yes, so the moment, if we lay hands on you, we take you to either police station or we take you to court, and you must pay a fine. This will help us, at least, to sanitize the environment. Another thing is that we want to ensure that all our streets are free from littering.”

He also announced plans by the agency to pick waste materials from homes, offices, churches and other places in order to ensure clean Abia.

“One, we talked about some time ago, we talked about bagging our waste, which we have not implemented. But very soon, we are implementing it. One of the most important things, which we are praying that even the media should as well help us, is this idea of littering the environment.”

He said the mini buses and pickups would be going into hard to reach areas, where there are no places to mount to waste buckets such as Agbama Housing Estate and other places to pick their waste at least twice in a week.

“Yes, we have the number of some of these very places. Take, for instance, the Agbama or local housing estates.”

“We have been there, but there is no place for us to keep the bucket. We can’t block the roads. So the plans we have mapped out are this.” We have discussed with the estate executives. Our plan is that we have these two times in a week. That’s one of the reasons why we have some of these keke pickups.”

“We have to move two times a week. We go to some of these very places. All we need is just for them to bag their waste, drop at their doorposts or their gates.”

“We will only come to a pick, and then go. At the end of the month, they will pay the government the little money that has been agreed to be paid. And some of the places we are still building, because the government has given the contracts for them to build some buckets, which we are going to spread across to other places. Very soon, they are going to have their buckets. Yes, like that of houses, depending on the distance.”

“So the charge is not too much. Like a room is about N300, they will be paying per month. N300 a month, which is not much.”

“But at least we are going to maintain it that every two times in a week we must come to your doorpost to pick your waste. At least we are going to save you from that very stress.”

Catechist Jonah further explained that the awareness campaign is still ongoing to sensitize the people on the need to keep the environment clean by way of clearing of grasses, opening of the drains and many more.

“Today, when we are moving around, we see some grasses within some of the streets and houses. What we normally do is just to stop and beg the owners of these properties to ensure that they clean them. We actually want to make our state Capital to be the number one in Nigeria.”

“The sensitization has been going on all this while. Even in some regions, I think that was last week, Saturday, during the sanitation. Because every last Saturday of the month, we will normally have a program with rapid FM.”

“But still, people are very, very difficult to adhere to some of these things. But I think we are mapping up a policy that will help us to drive some of these things. If we ask you to do it and you don’t do it, maybe we do it for you and you pay the government.”