Administrator Mum as Residents Raise Alarm Over Exposure to Dump Site Hazard

In what appears to be indifference to the plight of residents living within the precincts of a final dump site in Bonny, the Sole Administrator of Bonny Local Government Area, Kingsley Banigo has declined response to complaints about the situation.

Kristina Reports had earlier reported the appalling refuse mounds around Bonny in Rivers State with the palpable exposure to public health challenges.

Reacting to that, the Bonny Local Government began evacuating the refuse but dumping same at a site adjacent the Magistrate Court in Bonny, thus subjecting the health and wellbeing of residents in the area to ample risk as a result of the chronic stench oozing from the dump site.

To compound issues, an onsite inspection by Kristina Reports reveals that the ongoing rains is washing off aspects of the decomposed refuse into the river around the Coconut Estate environs, thereby constituting further threat to water bodies and rural dwellers that depend on them.

An enquiry posed to the administrator by Kristina Reports via text message and WhatsApp application were yet unresponded to several hours after they were sent to his mobile line.

Already, residents of the area are raising concerns as to the rationale of openly dumping refuse in that location and without any mitigating measure aimed at protecting the health and wellbeing of the people.

Around the dump site under review are institutions such as the Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, Magistrate Court, Bonny Vocational Centre, Ibani-Se Town Hall, Bonny Kingdom Development Committee Office, and Coconut Estate, amongst several others.

A resident who only identified himself as Obiesigha, decried the move by the Bonny Local Government, saying “how can they be this insensitive and wicked? Imagine where people are living, that is where you are dumping refuse indiscriminately?”

“How do we survive this unbearable odour coming out from there? Why are they doing this to us?”   

Another resident, Onome Ovie wondered how the decision to dump refuse indiscriminately and openly was taken, lamenting that the action by the Bonny Local Government was unacceptable and ignominious, calling on the administrator to call his officials to order.

An environmentalist working with one of the multinationals on the island, who preferred anonymity, warned that “dumping refuse openly and without any ameliorative measure was a recipe for unleashing communicable diseases on the vicinity of the dump site”.

He appealed to the authorities to reconsider the decision, pointing out that given the state of the economy with several people grappling to even survive, being exposed to health hazards would be more than they can bear at this time.

Checks by Kristina Reports indicate that the immediate past administration had stopped the dumping of refuse at that site over a year ago due to considerations for the health of the people and environmental impact on the area.

An official of that administration, who offered to speak offline, told Kristina Reports that “the government was concerned over environmental challenges like open defecation, indiscriminate dumping of refuse, flooding, and blocked drainages as at then”. 

“So, the government set out to desilt blocked drainages, build new ones, stop the indiscriminate dumping of refuse near the magistrate court, and also working with stakeholders to discourage open defecation.”

“So, yes, we were on it. Residents of areas like Akiama, Polytechnic, Ibani-Se Hall, Navy Base, etc. were considered in terms of their health, in terms of the air they breathe, in terms of impact on the environment, and all that; that’s why Madam Chairman stopped dumping of refuse there.” 

Efforts by Kristina Reports to reach the Public Health Department of the Rivers State Ministry of Health were yet unsuccessful as at the time of this report.