Heaps of refuse are piling up in the streets of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, as waste disposal contractors have withdrawn their services to protest the state government’s failure to pay them.
An investigation by SaharaReporters indicated that the capital city’s mounting refuse have not been removed by the state’s sanitation authority for more than eight weeks.
Mounds of trash have been a common sight in Yenagoa and its environs since Governor Seriake Dickson came to office in February 2012.
The areas of Yenagoa most affected by the giant piles of refuse are Igbogene, Yenegwe, Akenfa, Agudama-Epie, Akenpai, Edepie, Etegwe, Okutukutu, Opolo-Epie, Biogbolo-Epie, Yenizue-Gene, Kpansia, Okaka, Ekeki, Amarata, Onopa and Ovom.
City residents in the worst hit areas complained about the offensive odor that oozed from ubiquitous dumpsites, especially those along Mbiama-Yenagoa Road in the state capital.
In some areas frequent rains and the activities of scavengers who turn the trash over the refuse dumps have compounded the situation.
Commuters and drivers in the state capital also complain that the refuse heaps have narrowed most of the streets, inhibiting vehicular traffic. In many streets, refuse has taken up lane, slowing the smooth run of traffic going in opposite directions.
A medical doctor told our correspondent that the abandoned refuse could result in an outbreak of some epidemic and pose other serious health and environmental risks.
One resident said the piles of refuse were an eyesore and unbecoming of a state capital. He called on the state government to show concern for the health of residents.
One contractor blamed the pile up of trash on the fact that he and others who handle the evacuation of refuse in the state have not been paid for the past five months.
“Our workers stopped going to work because we have not been able to pay their salaries,” the contractor said. He added that it was impossible for trash removal firms to keep paying their staff when the state owed them a backlog of fees.
Contacted by our correspondent, the chairman of the Bayelsa State Sanitation Authority, Oforji Oboko, said that the contractors were under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment and not his agency.
All efforts to get the reaction of the Commissioner for Environment, Inuro Wills, proved abortive as he declined to comment on the development.