Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has flagged-off the Imo State Waste Management Agency operations in the State capital, handing over 12 newly acquired trucks/pay-loaders and other working equipment to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Sanitation for effective operations.
The ceremony which took place at the Hero Square on Thursday was described by the Governor as “a new dawn in the annals of Imo State approach to cleanliness through effective waste management.”
The Governor said that the equipment are to enable the Ministry of Social Welfare and Sanitation and the Imo State Waste Management Agency carry-out their duties effectively and be able to keep Owerri and its environment clean.
He used the opportunity to advise the citizens of Imo State to be partners in progress on waste management by being careful and deploy the right attitude in the way they manage their waste, warning that they must ensure that everything that comes out of their homes, considered as waste, goes into the waste bin box that has been provided for them.
Governor Uzodimma however warned that anybody found dropping waste on the road/street or scattering waste where they are not supposed to will be liable to an offense that will result into arrest and prosecution, according to a statement by Oguwike Nwachuku, CPS/Media Adviser to the Governor.
He therefore advised Imolites to put their waste into the polythene bags and drop them on the designated points on the roads where the Waste Management Agency operatives can collect them.
The governor said that Owerri Municipal has been divided into three zones – A, B and C and that henceforth it is now an offence for anybody to litter the Streets with waste after they have been cleaned and that the offence is punishable by law.
He promised that he will take upon himself as Governor of Imo State to ensure those found guilty of these offences are brought to book, promising that soon Government will procure 10,000 waste bin boxes that will be deployed to the 27 Local Government Areas of the State.
The Governor proceeded to commission the 12 waste bin trucks which he handed over to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Sanitation for the use of Imo State Waste Management Agency.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Commissioner for Social Welfare and Sanitation, Dr. Elias Emedom thanked the Governor for his interest in the well-being of Imo people, exemplified in the establishment of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Sanitation which is the supervisory Ministry of Imo State Waste Management Agency.
He expressed his gratitude on the procurement of the equipment which he described as “a show of the Governor’s zeal and enthusiasm in getting it absolutely right with the sanitary and environmental cleanliness of Imo State in general and the State Capital and its environs in particular.”