.To axe 50 contractors, 160 waste defaulters prosecuted

By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY –THE Edo State government has read the Riot Act to waste managers in the state threatening to revoke the licenses of 50 contractors even as not less than 160 defaulters in waste disposal have been prosecuted and punished accordingly in the last three months.

The Managing Director, Edo State Waste Management Board, Mr Lucky Enehita- Inegbenehi stated this in a chat with newsmen as part of activities to mark Governor Monday Okpebholo’s 100 days in office where he also revealed that it would soon begin conversion of waste to wealth in the state and that the governor has given a marching order to make the state the cleanest in the country.

He said the previous administration left behind a pattern designed to ensure that waste managers fail in their duties even as he revealed that the plan to convert waste to wealth by the last administration ended at the level of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

He said the approval of the Okpebholo administration, the Board has been able to purchase equipment that has enabled it to clear refuse across the state capital and that the Board has appointed coordinators across the three senatorial districts and the 18 local government areas to make the board responsible for the entire state and not only the state capital.

He said “Some of these contractors, their contracts were N1.5, some N1.8 and N2 million naira and if you divide 2 million naira by 30, there is no way they can meet up so the structure that we met on the ground was actually designed to fail

“There are some areas I call black spots even though they are not directly in our purview and we decide to evacuate dirt and clear drains so that when the rain comes, there will be no problems.

“I am shocked that people decide to deny themselves of sleep and wake up as early as 2 am to drop refuse on the roads rather than pay N2,000 per house old in a month to clear the same, I was even suggesting that the mobile court should include issues like psychiatric evaluation of offenders because it is shocking that somebody will deny himself or herself of sleep to drop refuse on the road by 2 am.

“We have a roving team that go out as early as 2 am, I deploy to all the hot spots and they pick those involved but these people have also devised another method to now go before 2 am, they now go between 10 to 11 pm so we are planning a 24 hours surveillance where they will run shifts to ensure 24 hours monitoring

“We have arrested over 160 people and prosecuted some of the sentenced to community service, others fined and other penalties.”

He said 13 waste managers have been axed and not less than 50 more will go due to inefficiency.

He said on assumption of office, the Benin-Auchi, Benin -Agbor Roads, market areas in New Benin, Oba Market, Oregbeni and others which had heaps of refuse have been evacuated and commended Governor Monday Okpebholo for giving the board the free hand to carry out his agenda of ensuring a cleaner Edo state which he noted is in line with his vision for Edo state.