Anambra Cities Turn Refuse Dumps

If it were in developed countries, someone would have sued the government especially after having paid heavily on sanitation levies, yet you still see those kinds of sights around you. It’s condemnable…” The nation reports.

Those were the exact words of Mr Anayo Ifemeluma, a resident of Okpuno in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State over a stinking refuse dump in the area.

He queried the justification in government’s demand for sanitation levy when the health of the people were being toiled with.

According to him, it was high time government priotized the well being of its people by making the environment habitable, especially in view of the current global health challenges.

Painfully, Ifemeluma is not the only one in that condition. Residents and visitors alike in various communities across the state have continued to lament excruciating pains they were being subjected to occasioned by indiscriminate and accumulated refuse dumps in their locations.

While some blame the ugly situation on the “population explosion” that greeted major cities in the state following increased influx of persons during the yuletide, others attributed it to negligence on the part of government and contractors responsible for refuse disposal.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that major cities in the State, particularly the Awka capital territory, Onitsha, Nnewi and Ekwulobia are dotted with heaps of refuse dumps with their attendant health implications.

Some of the refuse dumps, especially within the market areas have almost covered the major streets, thereby causing heavy traffic jams and health hazards to both residents and commuters.

Those who spoke to The Nation expressed fear of outbreak of epidemic if not urgently addressed, just as they appealed to concerned authorities to come to their rescue.

Narrating her ordeal, a nurse in a pharmacitical store along court road in Awka, Miracle Ohabuotu said flies and stench oozing out from the refuses were rather disturbing.

She said the situation was seriously affecting businesses in the area as people who visited their shops for drugs or seek medical attention were driven away by the flies and the stench from the littered refuses.

In Onitsha, the commercial city of the state, a fashion designer along Awka road, Mrs Regina Arinze decried the psychological truma they were being subjected to by the present condition.

She described what they were presently experiencing as a child’s play to what it used to be during raining season as most of them were forced to be indoors due to the offensive odour oozing from the heaps of refuse.

An artist in Nkpo, Ugo Uchegha who was seen battling to keep flies off his food blamed the contractor in charge of refuse disposal, stressing that such actions did not speak good of government.

Uchegha further recalled the day he would have had a head-on collusion with an on-coming vehicle while trying to avoid scarvengers and refuse littered along the road.

A trader at the main market, Mr Osita Nnebe, visibly weak and pale said he was suffering from bacteria infection and malaria, lamenting that those responsible for carting away the refuse would wait until it constituted health hazard before they would do the needful.

He called on government to always ensure heaps of refuse were disposed as at when due, for the safety of its citizens.

The situation is not different in Nnewi, the industrial city of the state. Though indiscriminate waste disposal had been a trend in the area, but the development was worsened by the just celebrated Christmas and New Year festivities; with quantity of wastes generated increasing significantly.

The refuse heap along the Nnobi- Nnewi road by Nnewi High School, could best be described as an eyesore as the waste have already taken over the road, including the surrounding walls of the Nnewi High School, extending to the road and emitting unpleasant smell.

Also, refuse dumped behind Authority FM Station, Umuanuka Otolo, Nnewi and the Izuchukwu Bus-Stop were constituting serious nuisance to both pedestrians and motorists.

Passers-by were compelled to cover their noses with masks and handkerchiefs as they approached the nearby bus stop to board vehicles.

Similarly, at Court Road, Okpunoegbu Umudim Nnewi, the refuse there had extended into the road to the extent that vehicular movement had been restricted to one lane.

A commercial driver, who simply identified himself as Baba Frayo,  accused the relevant authority of refusing to clear the refuses off the roads.

The Managing Director, Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA), Mr. Amechi Akorah, declined comments.