From: OKEY SAMPSON, Aba
Some residents of the Federal Housing Estate and Emelogu Road axis of Ogbor Hill in Aba, Abia State, have sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) message to the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, over the looming epidemic that could break out in the area as a result of the stench coming out from a dumpsite in the place.
The residents were of the view that if nothing was done urgently to stop the dumping of refuse in the area, their lives and that of children of two private schools which over look the dumpsite would be in great danger due to the hazardous stench that emits from the site.
Some of the residents who spoke to Daily Sun under the cover of anonymity for fear of being victimized said that shortly before the present governor was made Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) deputy manager for Aba zone, the place was known as Emelogu Mountain because of heaps of refuse.
They said with the takeover of ASEPA by Ikpeazu in 2014, the heaps of refuse were cleared to the admiration of people living within the vicinity.
The people however said that since late 2015, ASEPA returned to the area, using the borrow-pit that is surrounded by residential houses and two private Nursery/Primary Schools as dumpsite which receives hundreds of tones to refuse daily with its attendant health hazards particularly to the school children.
They therefore appealed to the governor to direct ASEPA to relocate the dumpsite to a safer place before epidemic breaks out in the area.
“We appeal to the governor to at least for the sake of these little school children who will be more vulnerable in the event of any epidemic out break, direct ASEPA to relocate the dumpsite to a safer place”.
When Daily Sun visited the dumpsite on Emelogu Road, although a rickety ASEPA Earth-Moving Machine was seen battling to push the surging refuse out from the road, however, unendurable stench oozing out from the dumpsite could be perceived from more than 500 metres away.
Efforts made to reach the ASEPA deputy manager for Aba zone, Rowland Nwakanma, could not yield any fruit as he was said to be busy when Daily Sun visited his office on Pound Road.