Abia State Commissioner for Environment, Chief Sam Nwogu has said that Aba, the commercial hub of the state would henceforth experience timely disposal of refuse in the city.
Nwogu said that the era of having refuse buckets in the city filled with overflowing and causing traffic jams would no longer be allowed in Aba.
News Echo reports that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had sacked the Deputy General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), in charge of Aba, Chief Rowland Nwakamma just a few days ago.
Nwakamma who incidentally is Governor Ikpeazu’s in-law was sacked together with all the Local Government waste management Zonal Heads in Aba except the Zonal Head in charge of Aba Owerri road, Ikot-Ekpene road and express zones.
The sack of Nwakamma was contained in a release signed by the Secretary to Abia State Government, Barr Chris Ezem.
Ezem also said that the Government will henceforth not condone any lapses in the waste management effort in Aba and Umuahia and accordingly expect immediate evacuation of all residual wastes in all locations around the city of Aba and Umuahia without any delay.
The Government further directed that the Commissioner for Environment should takeover and oversee Aba Waste Management and immediately advertise for the engagement of Professional Waste Managers to handle the Various zones.
Speaking on the new mandate given to him, Nwogu said that the team Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu asked him to lead has cleaned Aba up noting that the residents would celebrate their Christmas and New Year in a clean city.
News Echo reports that the order which was given by Governor Ikpeazu to Nwogu to take charge of ASEPA operations in managing refuse in Aba had resulted in the cleaning up of the city within 48 hours.
In his words, “We have cleaned up the city apart from Faulks Road area which we started work on but will complete it alongside Tonimas area.
“We could not finish these areas last because of the heavy traffic of people leaving the city but we will go back this to finish the clearance.
“The governor asked us to take over from the former team managing Aba refuse disposal and we have been able to tidy up most parts of the city now.
“We are going back to the drawing board to come out with a more concrete plan of how we will be collecting the refuse from individual homes and shops and desilting of gutters and handling of the dumps.
“These are the areas we would want to critically look at. I want to promise you that you will not see refuse heaps left over for two or three days in Aba again.
