A Port Harcourt based environmental consultant and businessman, Chief Benson Ugbeje has called on residents in Rivers State against indiscriminate dumping of refuse in their domain.
Ugbeje in a chat with media men on Tuesday in Port Harcourt said that one of the major causes of blockade in the drainage system was indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drains.
He noted that there were designated receptacles approved by the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) for the dumping of refuse.
The consultant stressed that indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the gutter had contributed to higher percentage of flooding in Port Harcourt and environs.
The environmentalist advised residents to reciprocate government’s gesture by imbibing proper sanitary habit to ensure good sanitation in Port Harcourt and beyond.
Ugbeje urged the residents to also obey sanitation rules and regulations to allow for clean environment for everybody to live.
He stressed that the state government had tried in its effort to ensure that Port Harcourt and the state at large were decent for the people to live in.
The consultant urged the residents to also come out enmasse on sanitation days and clean their surroundings to rid the environment of mosquitoes and other attendant diseases.
“You see, the government has provided roads and the gutters, the government has also provided receptacles for the dumping of refuse, therefore the residents should dump their waste at the receptacles and not in the gutters,” he added.
“You see if we have to live a flood free life, we have to imbibe proper sanitary habit and also obey sanitation laws to avert natural disaster,” the consultant said.
He stated that parents should advise their wards and children not to jump refuse in the gutters during heavy rain falls, adding that the rains most times were not able to drain such refuse completely from the gutters.
“If residents can heed to this advice, flooding will be reduced to its barest minimum in Port Harcourt and in the entire State,” he said.
