Editor
By Etim Etim
Residents of Abuja are facing another serious health hazards soon after they came out of a prolonged water scarcity.
This time, refuse dumps are mounting in many estates and residential neighbourhoods as villagers who live near the dumpsites at Idu have prevented contractors from accessing the landfills to dump the wastes.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe villagers are complaining of poor management of the dumpsites by the waste contractors. As the standoff lasts, many residential neighbourhoods, including gated estates, are overflowing with uncollected heaps of refusing, fueling fears of possible epidemic outbreak.
‘’It’s been over three weeks and refuse have not been collected in this estate; everywhere in stinking. There is a risk of outbreak of diseases’’, a resident of Prince and Princess Estate, in Apo district, Mr. Peter Obadan, said. The estate has about 10,000 residents, including a serving minister in the Tinubu administration, senior civil servants and security officials.
The problem of uncollected wastes in the city first started earlier in the year when the contract between the refuse collectors and Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), elapsed and was not renewed. This resulted in the contractors withdrawing their services. At a public function in September, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, publicly apologized to residents for the mounting refuse heaps and announced that the contract had been renewed and that the contractors would resume services.
But on resumption of work in October, the refuse collectors met angry villagers who turned the refuse trucks away. The villagers are asking for ‘’better managements practices’’ at the dumpsites so as to prevent health hazards and environmental degradation. A director at AEPB and a supervisor at LAWMA, one of the refuse contractors, who spoke to this reporter confirmed the villagers’ action and suggested that the FCT Minister may have to personally intervene to break the logjam.
- Refuse dump in FCT, Abuja. Photo Credit: Etim Etim
‘’Let the minister go to Idu with taskforce men and police to clear the villagers who are blocking our trucks’’, a LAWMA supervisor said.
Abuja residents have faced many challenges in recent times. Between August and September, many residential areas suffered severe water scarcity due to bureaucratic delays in procurement of chemicals and materials for water treatment. The affected areas were Gudu, Gwarimpa, Durumi, Prince and Princess Estate, Games Village, Lugbe, Apo, Gwarimpa and many others. But as the water problem has abated, uncollected refuse has become another headache for the affected residents.
‘’It has never been this bad. I have lived in Abuja since 2002 and I haven’t seen such gradual deterioration in services. The FCT Minister should give adequate attention to other services in the FCT just as he’s paying attention to roads and infrastructural development’’, bemoaned a resident of Games Village.
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