Own and Protect Your Environment against Illegal Dumpsites
Edeniyere Abraham Osose
In consonant with the Mr Governor Godwin Obaseki’s determination and concerted effort to create a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for the people of Edo State and a way to finish well, the Edo State Waste Management Board in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability and Oredo Local Government Council, has mobilized zonal waste managers to carry out a massive waste evacuation exercise in Ibiwe, Benin City, and called on the residents to take ownership of their environment and protect it against indiscriminate dumping of refuse to avoid the creation of illegal dumpsite in their surroundings.
The call was made by the General Manager, Edo State Waste Management Board, Mr Osadebamen Charles Imariagbe, on Monday morning 28th August, 2023, during the massive evacuation intervention exercise in Ibiwe community in Benin City Edo State, where many of the waste managers were on ground with their trucks to clear off the monumental illegal dumpsite that has lasted for decades in the area.
Speaking to Journalists, Mr Imariagbe said, “What you can see behind us was not as bad as what was behind you, what we had there, was there for a decade but we worked on it as directed by the State Governor and brought it down. And we have come to do the same to what you can see behind me”.
According to him, “It has been a notorious practice by some residents and the inhabitants of this area, 1st and 2nd Ibiwe, they all come to dump refuse here illegally, and this is a practice that must stop. We have been warning them we are here to evacuate this one”.
“We have constituted a sanitation committee dominated by the members of the community so that they can take responsibility and take ownership as far as this place is concerned,” Imariagbe said.
Also, the General Manager said, “We are working closely with the Ministry of Environment under the leadership of the Commissioner for Environment and the Oredo Local Government under the leadership of the HOLGA and the Waste Management Board an organized trust, and we have made sure that all the necessary equipment to do this job today will be on ground”.
Meanwhile, to curb the unseasoned indiscriminate dumping of waste in the area, the General Manager mandated the zonal waste managers in the area to register every household that has not been captured in the waste management scheme, stating that anybody resisting such an order would be prosecuted without delay.
Speaking also, the Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Arc. Joshua Omokhodion, who earlier cleared the air and told the people to disregard the rumours that the early morning Monday sanitation by market traders and shop owners will end this month, reassured the residents of the continuous practice of the initiative, which has come to stay.
In his words, Arc. Omokhodion said: “It is not true at all please discard that statement that today is the last day of the exercise. It is a continuous process, in fact, what we are currently discussing is how to sustain the tempo and the method we are using right now as we have actually gone beyond just cleaning”.