Photo : ASEPA Deputy General Manager, Umuahia Zone, Catechist Ambrose Jonah, (In Black), in a group photograph with members of the Correspondents Chapel
ASEPA plans house to-house refuse collection in Umuahia Zone
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Plans are underway by the Umuahia Zone of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) to improve environmental cleanliness within the zone made up of Ikwuano, Umuahia North and Umuahia South Local Government Areas.
Short-term measures to achieve this goal, according to the Deputy General Manager (DGM) of ASEPA, Umuahia Zone, Catechist Ambrose Jonah, include bagging of waste to facilitate sorting, house-to-house refuse collection and provision of more refuse bins (buckets) to bring refuse dumps closer to residents. The long-term measure, he said is the move by the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, to establish waste processing industry in the state.
Catechist Ambrose Jonah, disclosed this when he received members of the Correspondents Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abia State Council in his office in Umuahia on Monday, October 14, 2024,. He disclosed that three Mobile Courts have been established in the Zone, while the agency has intensified its fight against fake revenue agents.
The ASEPA Umuahia Zone DGM said the agency has started sensitizing corporate organizations in the Zone on the need to bag their wastes for easy evacuation, a new measure that would soon take off, corporate bodies in the zone and extended to households, adding that the agency has produced three bags of red, green and black colours which would be used to bag different categories of wastes. He said the bagging would facilitate sorting of wastes as degradable, non-degradable and bio-degradable and bagging them accordingly.
He explained that the essence of bagging the waste was to facilitate sorting of the refuse to make waste management easier; as well as to discourage the activities of scavengers which have become a menace to society.
He said that the agency was discussing with housing estates in the zone on the introduction of house-to-house collection of refuse and that mini-buses for that purpose have been acquired.
“We have plans of beginning house-to-house collection of refuse soon and we have acquired mini-buses to reach the estates which we have discussed with,” Catechist Jonah said.
He revealed that Governor Otti was planning to build waste processing plant in the state for efficient waste management.
“The Governor has plans to establish a waste recycling industry and he is working seriously to achieve that. We have received many proposals in that regard and the Governor has even sent some people to China for that purpose and he has also tasked us to determine the quantity of waste generated daily,” the DGM said.
The DGM who assumed office in February this year said his administration inherited rickety waste buckets but has produced 30 waste buckets to bring them closer to residents, bought two compactor truck and a caterpillar so far and was planning to procure more equipment to make its job easy. He added that 200 ad-hoc staff were recruited recently to boost environmental cleanliness in the Zone.
He recalled that on his assumption of office in February, the agency embarked on desilting of drains within the capital city.
“We desilted gutters that have been blocked for about 36 years and evacuated the tens of tons of debirs generated in order to check flooding in Umuahia,” he said.
He added that the agency was striving to overcome the challenge of gaining access to the final dumpsite which road was blocked with waste by the past administration.
The DGM said the agency has intensified its fight against fake revenue agents who go about collecting cash from the unsuspecting public against government’s directive that all revenues must be paid into the state’s Single Treasury Account (TSA). “We arrested some fake revenue agents and prosecuted them,” he said.
To check littering of roads, plans, he said, were afoot to provide waste baskets for motorists and tricycle operators, adding that monitoring teams would be would equally be put in place to ensure compliance.
He announced that three Mobile Environmental Courts have been established to try people who contravene ASEPA Law in the zone.
“Three Mobile Environmental Courts have been established in the zone, one each in Ikwuano, Umuahia North and Umuahia South and government has deployed Magistrates to these Courts and they sit every day,” he announced.
To catch them young, he said that the agency has taken its senstization campaigns to primary and secondary schools in the Zone to enlighten pupils and students on the need to maintain a clean environment.
Catechist Jonah commended Governor Alex Otti for effectively funding the agency, which made possible, the successes record by his management. ”The Governor does not starve us of funds. He approves every request we make,” he said. According to him, ASEPA was waiting for the Governor to assent to the amended ASEPA Law which has altered the ASEPA rate, to enable the agency to start collecting daily tolls.
