So much have been said and written about the state of environment disaster posed by the myriad of refuse dumps in various parts of Port Harcourt. Before now, the thinking was that the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, would return home to face the malaise, after his failed presidential ambition.
Some weeks ago, chairmen of Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt local government areas who were detailed to ensure that the mountains of refuse across the state capital were cleared.
Although, there were signals that some refuse contractors were on parts of the roads to do the expected. But their efforts appear not to have made any serious impact, considering the extent of dumps in parts of the state.
As at today, Rivers State does not have a commissioner for environment, neither has it got a commissioner for health. Also, there is no properly constituted membership and leadership for the state waste management agency.
What obtained since the coming of the Wike’s government has been the running of the place by a sole administrator who was more of a political godfather than an administrator. The governor could only bark but could not bite him.
Which is why many people think that the agency would have done better if the governor had done the proper thing by avoiding political considerations in his choice of personnel to run RIWAMA.
Our belief is that things can still get better, as long as the governor is able to strengthen RIWAMA and ensure that the agency is run purely as a service oriented agency, devoid of politics.
We are urging the governor to take another look at the sanitary situation of the state, appoint relevant professionals into the various offices and give them a marching order to return Port Harcourt to its original status as the garden city of the nation.
It is also worrisome that some of the internal roads in the state capital have been allowed to cave in. one of such roads if the SARS road which connects a lot of other communities.
Allowing the road to remain the death trap that it has been for a while now is a serious minus to the government of Wike. The governor himself has been touted to be someone who loves to embark on people-oriented projects. SARS road is one of the roads in the state capital and deserves a very urgent attention.
