Tejiri Ebikeme/Francis Sadhere

It was stress, frustrations, pains and tears as Delta State Government flagged off the Special Sanitation Exercise aimed at Cleaning up the oil rich city of  Warri and its environs.

The state government recently constituted a 25-man Special Sanitation team, chaired by the State’s Deputy Governor, Professor Amos Utuama (SAN), to supervise the clean-up of Warri, Uvwie and Udu Local Government Areas within one week.

But when the team commenced work on Monday April 7, 2014, it brought with it stress, frustrations, tears and pains to not a few residents, traders and motorists.

The flag-off exercise took place at the recently beautified Enerhen Junction in Uvwie local government area of the state.

Our correspondents report that traffic management at the Enerhen Junction was poor throughout the period of the exercise as motorists were trapped and several commuters were stranded.

The link roads within the area overflowed with vehicles as many commuters had to trek to their various destinations, just as traders at the Enerhen Junction broke down in tears as their caravans and other make-shifts were pulled down by the team.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the flag-off, the Deputy Governor, Prof. Utuama made it clear to residents, traders and others that it was not going be business as usual.

He said the time to collectively clean up the three local government areas was now and enjoined the people to cultivate a good sanitation habit or risk prosecution.

He said; “We are here this morning to clean up the filth in Uvwie, Udu and Warri local government areas and restore sanitation in these three local government areas. This will involve removing all illegal structures, illegal granite sites, illegal dump site, clearing of vehicles parked along the road, clearing of containers etc. We want to restore environmental order to these three local government areas.”

The Deputy Governor also said; “After this exercise we will spread across all the local government areas in the state. Our programme of Delta Beyond Oil involved the restoration of civilization to our urban life so as to attract investments and restore health to our people.”

Professor Utuama disclosed that; “We have five teams for this purpose; for the Warri side we have Dr. Joseph Otumara, supported by Frank Omare who is involved in clearing all illegal structures and Mr. Igbakpa who is in charge of removing all vehicles that have broken down and are along the roads. The second team is headed by Dr. Chris Oghenechovwen, who is in charge of Uvwie area and is supported by obstruction removal team headed by Ben Ibakpa and Mr. Omare. The Udu structure is headed by Mr. Richard Mofe Damijo, Commissioner for Culture and Tourism.”

“For offenders, they will be dealt with according to the law as we are going to have mobile courts. I am calling on the support of the people in these three local government areas. And I am also warning all those dumping waste in illegal dump sites and those erecting illegal structures in any place to stop forthwith or they will end up in jail, and of course we will collect money. The Attorney General is here to ensure that we prosecute offenders according to the law,” he stated.

Speaking further, the Deputy Governor said; “We have enlightened the people on this for the past two weeks now, but our people are very stubborn. But we are going to break that stubbornness and let them know that it is for their interest and the interest of all to make sure that our environment is clean and rid of filth and all illegal structures to attract investors. We are going to have incinerators that will process our refuse to wealth; and we are building one at Igbogidi. The one in Asaba is already completed. We are going to persuade the people to know the value of a clean environment.”

On his part, Delta State Information Commissioner, Mr. Chike Ogeah said; “We have about 6 commissioners involved in this project. We have all moved down to Warri. This is going to be a day and night stuff. They have heard it from the horse’s mouth, the Deputy Governor just told them that they should remove all the illegal structures from the road, otherwise there are going to penalties.

His environment counterpart, Frank Omare said; “We have to change the orientation of the people. Those who have decided embarrass the government of Delta State we are going to ensure that they have a change of attitude. We are here for a very serious business and we will be very firm. We have put up all the structures. The incinerator in Igbuzo has being completed and the one in Warri is going on and once we are done with these, I am sure we will go far.”

He added; “We have our environmental marshals who will be working with the local governments in day to day monitoring and enforcement. And that is why the Attorney General is a member of this team. The mobile courts are ready and offenders will be punished accordingly. When we finish from these three local government areas, others will follow naturally.”

The state Commissioner for Works, Hon. Solomon Funkekeme said that judging from what the state government did at Enerhen Junction, it was expected that people will value it and display appropriate environmental behaviours.

According to him, government has decided to restore environmental order in the state, adding that the exercise will last for about ten days and “when we are through, we are expecting that by then proper environmental behavior would have been restored.”

“This programme is a very comprehensive one and we have divided the local governments into zones and the interior parts will be well taken care of. We have a plan to sustain this tempo; we have environmental task force who will enforce these laws. The transport management law has been signed into law. We are going to have a mobile court where offenders will be prosecuted. Enough is enough and we are saying that people should behave. It is no longer going to be business as usual and we are not going to spare any one,” he added.

But the President Delta State Chapter of Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Augustine Mode, complained that the Environmental Health Officers were not being carried along.

He told our correspondents in an interview that; “We appreciate the state government for helping to clean the environment and for setting up the 25-man Special Sanitation team. But we want the state government to take a cue from what happened in 1984 where the then military government set up a task force. They used the enforcers who are the environmental officers. If the government wants to succeed, they must bring in the environmental health officers and their artilleries that are supposed to be the enforcers of the law. The aim of this, is that they need to follow up and the follow up will be done by the environmental officers.”

According to him; “The government has to involve these professional health officers if they want to achieve success. Right now, the environmental officers are onlookers at what is going on. But we believe that at the end of the day everything will end up in their desk. If the government is thinking of creating environmental marshals, these marshals cannot work outside the environmental health officers because they do not have the prerequisite laws to work.”

“There are already laid down laws in the state, and these laws are to be enforced by the environmental health officers. So the environmental marshals should be attached to the environmental officers and they will be able to work effectively. That is what I am suggesting for government. What was achieved in Lagos was possible because the enforcement was in the hands of environmental health officers. If they are not carried along it is going to be very difficult to achieve success because it is going to be force, force and force without special effect of prosecution which is the last resort for such business,” he said.