The Delta State Government has intensified its crackdown on the indiscriminate dumping of refuse, especially on drainages and water channels, warning that violators would face stiff penalties.
The tough stance is part of a renewed environmental sanitation drive and decisive move to combat perennial flooding.
The State Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, and his Environment counterpart, Mr. Ejiro Jamani, gave the warning during inspection of the old Lagos-Agbor Road at Boji-Boji Agbor on Tuesday.
Aniagwu, who said there were dangers in leaving water on the road because it would damage the asphalt which would cost the state government more funds to regulate and overlay the affected areas.
According to him, the Governor had directed the Ministry of Environment to “come heavy on anybody dumping refuse or turning our drains to dump sites, like the Commissioner for Environment has mentioned.”
He said, “Anybody doing that will be arrested, prosecuted and made to pay because they are causing a whole lot of havoc and environmental disaster and making us lose what we have spent money on.
“Hence, the ministry will not take it lightly with anyone caught doing that; so, we are also pleading with our people that if they see anybody turning the drains to dump sites, that is, ‘see something, say something’.
“Because it is not only causing us environmental hazards, it is also causing the kind of problem you saw a few days ago; therefore, we must all put heads together to address this even as we continue to spend this kind of funds in building drains across all our projects.”
The Works Commissioner also said the State Government had always been quite mindful of the need to control the flooding of all its projects.
“We look at the topography of the area where we are constructing any particular road. We also examine the volume of water in that corridor. You can see a whole lot of water coming through this axis. That’s why we are building a storm drainage along this Abraka road by Owa-Nta.
“We are also going to control a lot of storm water from the Aliosimi end; all will flow into this storm drainage. So, when individuals are asking what we are doing to control flood, you can see that when we build roads, we build drains, too, to ensure that the houses of our people are not submerged.
“We are not only interested in building roads where people will pass but also interested in creating an environment that is liveable for our people.
“You can see the amount of money we spent in building some of these drains because Delta, being a coastal state, has a lot of flood challenges.
Read also: Delta calls for collective action against flooding, other natural disasters
“So, when people ask what we are doing, you need to tell them the efforts the Oborevwori administration is making to construct drains whether in the North, South or Central Senatorial district. We build these drains to preserve the roads that we are building.”
On his part, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Ejiro Jamani, commended Governor Oborevwwori for constructing drainages on virtually all roads in the state.
He, however, frowned at the attitude of some citizens who had turned the drainages to dump sites, thereby causing flooding.
According to him, “If you watch well, every road the Governor is constructing, there must be drains. These drains are to takeaway storm water to their natural settlement.
“But we found out that some persons have turned these drains to dump sites. We are coming hard on them.
“On the Agbor issue, we were there to assess what happened. We noticed that they turned the adjourning street drains to dump sites. So, we will go back to see what we can do to de-silt the drains so that water can go to its natural settlement.
“Delta is a coastal state and what we normally do is that before the rains come, we do management of all the drains and, in no distant time, we will be here to do the needful.”
