By Kenneth Uwadi
Owerri
the capital ofImoStateinNigeriahas been named the dirtiest city
inNigeriain a report published on Tuesday by Association of Waste
Managers of Nigeria. Excrement in the street, graffiti, indiscriminate
dumping of refuse and lack of sanitation exercises are the typical
problems which Owerri city suffers, the report said. Another is the pure
water sachets, cans, the mass booze-up, which brings hundreds of
teenagers on to the streets at weekends, leaving litter strewn on
streets. The report also stated that 88 percent of those questioned
believed more public awareness of litter problems and regular cleanup
exercise would have greater effect in Owerri .According to the report
,146 local authorities were contacted and it was discovered that each
of the thousands of Imolites living in Owerri generates 1.5kg of rubbish
per day and that only 5 percent of homes in Owerri have rubbish
collection systems.
I
am down and angry about this news. It is shocking to discover that for
six months now the administration of Owelle Rochas Okorocha has not
conducted the monthly cleanup exercise. Owerri is now rated the dirtiest
city inNigeria. It is still fresh in our memory that by the first 100
days of the last administration of the state, Clean and Green policy and
the New face of Imo program transformed Owerri into an admirably clean
city. During the last administration, once in a month Imolites take part
in a major cleanup exercise, picking up garbage, sweeping streets,
sweeping roads, clearing away refuse, sorting bottles and so on.Thanks
to an administration with a poor outlook on life, ignorance, laziness
and nothing to gain by being clean, Owerri has become the dirtiest city.
Governor Okorocha has cut Imo citizens out of their clean-up the
environment responsibility and nobody seems to have the guts to say
anything for fear of the governor’s attack dogs and for fear of being
accused of fanning ambers of disunity in the state.
All
it takes for evil to thrive in a society is for few good men to say
nothing. All what we are saying is that our governor should face the
task of governance and meet the people’s expectations. We demand that
Okorocha should reintroduce the monthly sanitation exercise in the
state. We demand that theImoStategovernment should find a way of
stopping indiscriminate dumping of refuse in Owerri and if possible
inaugurate a sanitation court to prosecute offenders. Owerri city is
now refuse city as a result of poor waste management. Even people living
outside Owerri now transport refuse into it and dump them along the
roads.
We
will also never stop demanding that Governor Okorocha should recall
the sacked 10,000 legally employed Civil Servants in Imo state.The civil
Servants were duly employed according to Imo State Civil Service
Commission laws. There are laid down civil service rules to follow in
the sack of any civil servant. We must follow the rule of law in
governance for we operate democratic system inNigeria. The expectation
of the working class inImoState,traders, keke riders and transporters
was that Okorocha would usher in a government where citizens right will
be protected under the provision of the constitution as against decree
under military dictatorship. Six months into Owelle’s rule, we have
begun to ask question: is there a rule of law? Illegal proclamations are
being made in gross violation of democratic norms and the provisions of
Nigerian Constitution.
The
executive fiat announcement of the sack of 10,000 civil servants in Imo
state by the governor is an abuse of executive powers. It portrays the
government as being very insensitive to the plights of the masses and a
non respecter of the rule of law. Section 17 sub 3(b) of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states, “the state shall
direct its policy towards ensuring that all citizens, without
discriminations on any group whatsoever, have the opportunity for
securing adequate means of livelihood as well as adequate opportunity to
secure suitable employments”. A governor that cannot provide employment
for the youths of the state has no business in office.
-Kenneth Uwadi, Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State ,Nigeria
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