Residents of Mgbidi, Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State, have decried government’s inability to regularly evacuate refuse on Eluma Road.
The residents regretted that the refuse dump, which blocks the major road that links Owerri/Onitsha Expressway, Omuma community, home of Governor Hope Uzodimma and other neighbouring areas, have been abandoned by Oru West authority since December, 2019.
Residents of the area, on Wednesday, October 14 told News Echo reporter, who visited the refuse dump site, that all appeal made to government to evacuate the waste fell on deaf ears.
Odera Nze and Favour Odera are husband and wife, who are proprietors of Purple Next Guest House, No 19 Eluma Road, Mgbidi, situated opposite the Dump Site, said that the refuse slows business activities as the stench from the waste products scare customers away.
They said, “let the refuse be urgently evacuated. Refuse dump is not supposed to be located close to where people live. We have been spending huge amount of money on the health of our children because hospital used materials are dumped there, breeding mosquitoes and we have been restless here”.
A concerned indigene of Mgbidi, Umegboro Johnbosco Ikechukwu, added that the “refuse has been there for months, before the current administration, it used to be evacuated. The refuse site has been an eyesore, a very bad advert to the local government area. It is an only access road at Mgbidi which is no longer passable due to the ugly nature of the refuse. The Eluma Road leads to the LGA secretariat, NYSC Corpers’ Lodge, National Identity Management Commission, Police Residence and Mgbidi General Hospital. I call the on authorities concerned to expedite action to evacuate the waste to reduce our suffering”.
A businessman, Chukwuma Onyema, who hails from Mgbidi, said government is not doing well, as the dump has not been evacuated for the past one year and.
“It has damaged our road. I have a car, but I don’t come out with it because there is no road to pass through. We pay sanitation levy at the market, but nothing is being done with it. government should help us”.
