Refuse Fills Up Abuja Estates as Villagers Block Dumpsites
Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Abuja residents are confronted with health hazards with mounting refuse dumps taking over many estates and residential neighbourhoods as villagers, who reside close to the dumpsites at Idu putting opposition are blocking contractors from accessing the landfills to dump the wastes.
THISDAY gathered that the villagers were angered by the poor management of the dumpsites by the waste contractors, leading to many residential neighbourhoods, including gated estates, being overflowed with uncollected heaps of refuse that fuels possible epidemic outbreak.
“It’s been over three weeks and refuse has not been collected in this estate; everywhere is stinking. There is a risk of outbreak of diseases,’’ lamented a resident of Prince and Princess Estate, in Apo district, Mr. Etim Etim.
The estate has about 10,000 residents, including a serving minister in the Tinubu administration, senior civil servants and security officials.
The problem of piled up wastes in the city was noticed early in the year following the expiration and non-renewal of the contract between the refuse collectors and Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).
This crisis prompted many contractors to briskly withdraw their services.
At a public function in September, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, had publicly atoned to residents for the mounting refuse heaps and announced that the contracts had been renewed and that the contractors would resume services.
However, upon resumption of work in October, the refuse collectors met angry villagers, who turned refuse trucks away and were demanding for better management practices at the dumpsites as a way of mitigating health hazards and environmental degradation.
A director at AEPB and a supervisor at LAWMA, one of the refuse contractors, confirmed the villagers’ action and suggested that the FCT minister may have to personally intervene to end the face-off.
He urged the minister to delegate the officials of the taskforce to Idu and remove the villagers blocking trucks from removing wastes.
The issue of mounting waste is beside the many challenges, including severe water scarcity due to bureaucratic bottleneck in the procurement of chemicals and materials for water treatment confronting Abuja residents of late.
The affected residential areas were Gudu, Gwarimpa, Durumi, Prince and Princess Estate, Games Village, Lugbe, Apo, Gwarimpa and many others.
