The Edo state government has revealed it is about to finalize the process to set up an Environmental Protection Agency to checkmate deliberate actions of people whose actions and aims are to sabotage the efforts of the government to achieve a clean environment.
Mr. Bria Emoedume disclosed this while answering questions from newsmen in Edo capital on Sunday.
He warned residents to desist from the habit of indiscriminate dumping of refuse and other waste materials at undesignated points in the state as the government will no longer take such actions lightly.
Speaking further, he said dumping of refuse by the road side is the major cause of flooding being experienced in the state.
In his words “People are deliberately dumping of refuse on the road and environment without knowing that these things finds there way back to the drains.
“Aside from causing flooding, it will also damage the roads which are not designed to be flooded and become flooded and is being eaten up.
“We all suffer from these challenges and must be careful on how we deliberately mess up the environment and hinders government efforts at having a clean and floodless environment.
“If not, how do you explain the reason behind why someone arranged about 22 tyres to block a manhole that serves as a major central system to address flooding around five junction area of Benin City.
“These tyres would not have been arrange by an ordinary process of carelessness; it is not by negligence; somebody probably noticed that it is the central system to flooding in the area.
“He noticed that if he blocks that place, the whole area will be flooded. It took the deliberate effort of those persons to heaped the 22 tyres inside the manhole.
“While we continue to appeal to their conscience and also solicit for their cooperation.
“We also want the media, who are very strong in shaping the attitude and the discourse of the populace, to partner with us in the area of enlightenment and educating the people on their responsibility to the society,” he stated.
