Rivers Sanitation Officer Narrates Encounter With Angry Youths While On Duty

An official of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) has narrated his ordeal in the hands of angry residents while on duty.

Mr. Cyril Amadi recounted his ordeal to journalists in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

When asked by some journalists in Port Harcourt what transpired between the RIWAMA team and some youths in the state that led to the destruction of agency vehicles, Amadi explained thus:

“We were on routine monitoring about 7 am, in company of Police and other health officers of RIWAMA along Iwofe Road when we met a man identified as Kelly disposing of waste on the median of the road.

“When one of us accosted him to know why he should be throwing waste at the middle of the road, and at the wrong place and wrong time. He abandoned the waste and jumped into a waiting Keke tricycle, fell off and managed to get in again, and escaped.

“Shortly after, he mobilized some boys who came and started beating us up. They damaged our vehicle and punctured the tires. We managed to escape and were able to put a call through to our control room. While we struggled with the men, they mobilized more boys but luckily for us, we saw a naval patrol team who came to our rescue.

“The Naval personnel were able to arrest one of the boys and handed him over to men of the ‘Operation Sting’ Police force who brought him to the RIWAMA police station.”

Reacting to the attack, the Sole Administrator of RIWAMA, Felix Obuah, promised that all those involved in manhandling officials of the agency and vandalizing the agency’s vehicle, while on legitimate duty along Iwofe Road, Rumuolumeni, would not go unpunished.

Obuah, who stated this in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, regretted that the attack on the sanitation officers and vandalization of the agency’s vehicle have continued despite repeated appeals to members of the public against violation of sanitation rules.

“We have warned for the umpteen time that residents and those doing business in Port Harcourt should obey sanitation rules, they should dump their waste only at RIWAMA approved receptacles and they should obey the dumping hours of 6pm to 12 midnight order,” he restated.

Obuah commended the police who arrested one of the suspects and vowed that the other fleeing suspects, including the said Kelly, would be apprehended and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.

Obuah stressed that residents and those doing business in Port Harcourt, the State capital and it’s environs have no excuse to dump refuse indiscriminately as receptacles have been strategically positioned close to business and residential areas.