Cross Riverians eulogizes Ayade’s effort at waste management

 

I A cross section of listeners of the fast improving in profile and acceptability  radio programme, “Ayade’s Cross River on CRBC have commended the efforts of Governor Ayade in tackling the challenge of waste management in Calabar.  

 The listeners who made their feelings known through text messages sent to the programme said that it was a welcome and refreshing development that the state government has been able to source for and gotten new dump site, brought in new waste evacuation and disposal equipment and called on the people to support the governor’s bold initiative as he work to transform waste into wealth.

  Collaborating the views of cross Riverians and other Nigerians who participated in the radio programme, the Commissioner for Environment, Engineer Mike Eraye and the Executive Secretary, CUDA, Mr.  Joemary Etta both stated that Governor Ayade has revolutionize the sector leading to the recent success and result-oriented management of refuse in the state.    It would be recalled that the state had some challenges in the management of waste in the state after the disengagement of the former handler, but all that is history as the provision of adequate trucks and new bins by the present government have finally brought back sanity to management of waste in the state capital, Calabar.

 However to sustain the success recorded by the Ayade’s administration, the Commissioner ,Engineer Eraye and CUDA executive secretary Mr. Joemary Etta advocated that cross Riverians must embrace and support the current campaign on proper public sensitization awareness and education on waste disposal and management  in the state.

   In  the his words  the commissioner stated that, “In terms of sensitization on waste disposal, what the ministry has done is to first of all set standards and then get a buy in from members of the public to support it.”   “We still have a lot to do in the areas of attitude, including dumping of waste in gutters, waiting for the government to clear our drainages, clean the areas around where we are .

Even when bins are open and free, waste are scattered around the neigbourhood. Waste are brought out at odd-time, we have a plan which has been built on the foundation of public exercise, and with a keep Calabar clean project in collaboration with Hit FM a new foundation for public sensitization, awareness and education at watt market to interface with members of the public, to guide them on when waste should come out, put some enforcement procedures in place and ensure that force is deployed”.  

 To this end, he opined that they are challenges, but the expectations and hope of the state government is that cross Riverians will buy into it   so that the state can be taken to the next level.   On the situation of dump sites in the state, he echoed “it is a very critical component in the management of the high end of waste and a major challenge to the state government. In the past few years, about a decade now, we have paid attention to the low end of waste evacuation have paid attention to the low end of waste evacuation collection and transportation to the dump site.

 “The 2004 facility which was a gully that we got at lemnar road is filled, so it has been a huge challenge to get a facility, acquisition of adequate land space within the old city of Calabar. It’s been difficult to get land from anywhere else, but recently we have been able to acquire a site which will be expensive to manage, but his Excellency the Governor is committed to building that site into an accepted land filled site.  

 “That will take, not just that the waste in the form we see now, but it will deal with conversion of waste to wealth and waste to energy .We have investors incidentally who are waiting for that land to be ready to put facilities that will get into conversion and management of waste at the high end”, the Environment Commissioner concluded