Lawmaker laments over indiscriminate dumping of refuse in Abia

Hon Kelechi Onuzuruike, representing Umuahia North Constituency at the Abia State House of Assembly, has bemoaned the indiscriminate dumping of refuse in some areas of the state.

Hon Onuzuruike regretted that the streets and roads in Umuahia, the state capital, and Aba have been taken over by refuse, emphasising that the former had become an eyesore, which made him have an interface with the General Manager of Abia State Environments Protection Agency (ASEPA).

The Abia lawmaker, who is also the House Committee Chairman on Environment, made his feelings known while presenting a matter of urgent public importance on the floor of the state House of Assembly during its plenary sitting on Wednesday.

He revealed that the agency has only one functional excavator and one roll-on truck and that the agency spends over N1.3 million every month to hire other equipment needed for the excavation of refuse.

The legislator further said that the ASEPA General Manager said that the agency has some equipment in their custody but cannot make use of them because they have not been paid for in full by the state government.

Onuzuruike also used the medium to call on the executive arm of government to pay for those trucks so that the agency can effectively do its job.

Meanwhile, the state House of Assembly has resolved to summon the General Manager of the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency to appear before the House Committee on Environment and furnish it with more facts on the situation and efforts made so far by the agency to improve the process.

The committee on the environment has been directed by the Assembly leadership to report back to the house on the summon.

However, in Dec 2019 Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) launched a new house-to-house waste collection program in Umuahia as part of its efforts to further improve sanitation within the capital city.