Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s 5th largest urban area and economically significant centre of the nation’s crude oil, has now joined the race for dirtiness.
Since the Rivers State government’s disengagement of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) and other private waste management agencies on the 29th of April, one can barely walk on Port Harcourt roads without sight of heaps of garbage dumped right on the median of the roads.
Some major roads in Port Harcourt are now a haven for indiscriminate dumping of refuse and are in poor environmental conditions.
Walking along the Port Harcourt roads is now a horrible and depressing experience as the road users can hardly breathe fresh air. The contract termination between Rivers State Government and RIWAMA without a workable alternative might have led the citizens to take recourse in dumping refuse on the roadside, which poses a significant health risk to the citizens.
The World Health Organisation had earlier reported that over 2.4 billion people worldwide are at the risk of potentially fatal diseases due to persistent waste disposal issues, as in Port Harcourt.
The Rivers state government should rise to responsibility and agree with relevant bodies to ensure safe waste disposal management in Port Harcourt.