Efio-Ita Nyok|6 June 2016|7:00am
Mr Nya Offiong John, a resident of Calabar yesterday spearheaded the floating of the hashtag: #ThisIsNotCalabar, along with other residents of the state capital city in a bid to register his disapproval of Governor Ben Ayade's waste management policy since his inception as governor of the state.
He particularly called for an end to street hawking, the renewed use of litter bins in the state, CUDA evolving innovative and healthier ways of collecting waste, the introduction of street sweepers, recycling plant and the reinvigorating of Donald Duke's Calabar Clean&Green campaign. He also called for the sustenance of the greenery of the capital city which he observed aesthetic plants were going brown.
In his words,
Indeed #ThisIsNOTCalabar and we will do all we can to make this city become the enchanting Calabar we once knew.
●The government must put an end to street trading in the city NOW.
●The hawkers around traffic lights must be cleared off the roads.
●Our litter bins must return to reduce municipal waste.
● CUDA should device more innovative and healthier ways of collecting and disposing of waste.
●Time has come for the introduction of SWEEPERS for a faster and more efficient street cleaning.
●A recycling plant is long overdue. We can't rely solely on landfilling and/or incineration.
●Our Parks and GREEN areas are going BROWN!!!
●Let the government immediately embark on a robust campaign a la Donald Duke's #CleanAndGreen which they will then compellingly communicate to the people.
In a related and recent incident the Governor is reported by his media aides to say, 'It is unacceptable and totally unhealthy for both wastes and human beings to coexist side by side as we have witnessed here today. I am sure that when this place was designated as dump site, nobody was living here. But now that it is sharing the same environment with human beings, we have to consider an alternative place for a new dump site'. Ayade called for understanding and calm as he is poised to reverse the trend of poor waste management that has characterised the state capital. In his words, 'Once more, I want to plead with you for your understanding as my team and I aggressively seek to address the challenge of waste disposal. We are concerned about your interest, health, welfare, safety and security. There are key to me. Have a little patience, this waste will soon be a thing of the past'.
'Where we are now is a desperate and a proactive attempt to look for an alternative dump site to address the issue of waste disposal. The challenge we have currently is not one of waste evacuation but that of disposal…the only alternative we had before this was a little out of town, besides what we were to pay for the land, which was not what we could afford as an administration in the face of current realities. So the distance made it impossible for all the refuse trucks to go that far…So we are looking for how to make a calibration that is within reasonable distance from the city centre and the price reasonable, which is the reason for this new location here in Idundu', Governor Ayade disclosed.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroidhaven.org (Negroid Haven)