Delta State Deputy Governor, Amos Utuama, has warned that the state government is determined to put an end to all forms of environmental abuse going on in the state.
He stated this on Monday at Enerhen Junction, Uvwie Local Government Area when he led members of the Special Ad-hoc Committee on Sanitation to flag off the move by the state government to clean up three local government councils.
Utuama had at the weekend also led the team to visit royal fathers of Uvwie and Udu as part of the sensitisation efforts by the committee. The 21-member high-powered committee made up of members of the State Executive Council was set up last week to clean up the three local government areas of Uvwie, Udu and Warri South.
Speaking at the flag off, Utuama, who is the chairman of the working group, lamented the degree of filth in the three local government areas. He warned that the committee would clinically execute its terms of reference without fear or favour. He enjoined residents to assist the committee in achieving its objectives and goals by cooperating with them.
“The mandate of the committee is to clear these three local governments of all forms of filth and environmental abuse, including indiscriminate dumping of refuse, conversion of walkways to markets and stalls and reckless parking of cars by drivers who pick passengers without consideration for other road users. The Enerhen Juction, which government spent huge sums of money on as part of its urban renewal and beautification programme, has been so bastardised that you can hardly recognise it again. This is unacceptable and government is determined to tackle this environmental abuse head on”, he said.
Utuama said the committee would set what he called “minimum acceptable environmental standard” in the three council areas and make others to take a cue from them.