The Abia State government has directed the State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) to commence collection of waste at point-of-generation, beginning from Aba and Umuahia, the state capital.

The state’s Information Commissioner, Prince Okey Kanu, who announced this after the state’s executive council meeting, said doing so would involve focusing on residential areas and business premises.

“The state government has made very tremendous progress in terms of environmental sanitation and cleanliness of our public spaces through the activities of ASEPA.

“ASEPA is already poised to run a hybrid system that will involve central collection of wastes in public places such as markets and in some specific areas with high traffic, population and narrow roads,” he said. He added that ASEPA is on the verge of implementing new tariffs and rates across the state.

According to him, the state government will offer some assistance because waste disposal is seen as a social service. Residents, he said, will, however, bear some burden in terms of paying tariffs for waste disposal services to make the process more viable, efficient and sustainable.

The government, he stated, solicits the assistance and cooperation of members of the public that would help other agencies of government to monitor the government’s assets against the activities of social deviants. Kanu stressed the need for the activities of scrap excavators and dealers who reportedly tamper with ASEPA buckets to be monitored.

“We have instances of scrap dealers who steal or remove ASEPA buckets, so we need members of the public to take ownership of these assets and help in monitoring the activities of such unscrupulous individuals in the society,” he said.

On the worrisome activities of some criminal syndicates that defrauded members of the public in the name of ASEPA, Kanu encouraged members to report suspected cases of extortion to the harmonised task force and other law enforcement agencies.