By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY— Aggrieved residents of parts of Benin City, Edo State have protested the astronomical increase in tariff by the state waste disposal operators, alleging of over 500 per cent hike without notice.

A resident of the area, who did not want his name in print, said: “For instance, a resident that paid N1,000 as at April last year is now charged N15,000 while another who paid N700 in the same period is now being charged N4,000.

“The operators registered by the government blamed the increase on the cost of diesel for trucks and other general costs of things.”

According to another resident, “Before now, a flat paid between N2,000 and N2,500 depending on the location, so I am not aware of this wild increment you are talking about.”

But another resident residing on Murtala Muhammed Way, complained bitterly: “They just brought another receipt of N5,000 for me in a pace of one month. I don’t generate much waste, they did not give us any notice before the increase and they refused to listen to us or discuss with us.

“My neighbour, for instance, runs a car wash and they want him to be paying N15,000 monthly.

Meanwhile, this is a place that hardly generates waste, there is no other business attached to it. This is pure robbery by the state government and their agents. They are robbing us and we want the authorities to do something about this.”

General Manager of the Board, Rita Idehai was not available for reaction but an official of the board, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied the outrageous increments, saying the board does not fix rates but gives clients the freedom to negotiate with the waste managers depending on the frequency of evacuation and the quantity of wastes generated.

He, however, claimed the new rate was as a result of cost in diesel and other equipment the operators use and that the last increment by the board was in 2017.

An official of the Oredo Local Government Area in the state, under which the area falls denied the outrageous tariff allegation.

He said the operator in charge of that area before was not efficient as his employees were collecting money indiscriminately for themselves until the operator wrote to be disengaged.