AKSEPWMA: Keeping Akwa Ibom Clean, Green And Beautiful

 

CLEANLINESS, it is said, is next to Godliness. The beauty of modern day society depends not only in its infrastructural provisions or its elegance, but having to ensure that it is kept clean, green and beautiful.
In this regard, every environment is challenged by the system of waste management – how refuse are collected and discharged to ensure that the society is decent, healthy and beautify.
As it is, environment that is filthy is not only debasing, but it exposes the citizenry to health hazards and associated diseases.
For Akwa Ibom State, the government, in keeping with its best intentions of ensuring a developed environment and a healthy citizens, pays premium to cleanliness.
The Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel administration, desirous of ensuring that Akwa Ibom State is clean, green and beautiful, inaugurated a 10-Man Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency with Prince Akpan Ikim as the chairman.
Buoyed by his background as a trained military personnel, Prink Akpan Ikim, has together with the Board Members, worked to not only to justify the mandate, but to recreate the consciousness amongst indigenes of Akwa Ibom State and others in order that it becomes a culture and a welfare.
Soon after Prince Akpan Ikim’s inauguration on September 5, 2018, by Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, the Agency – AKSEPWMA, has taken the bull by the horns to ensure that the mandate is achieved.
Before its inauguration, the city of Uyo and its environs were littered with waste found almost on major streets and junctions. Citizens cried without much being done in that area, until AKSEPWMA under the able leadership of Prince Ikim took the centre stage. Apart from the acquisition of equipment, covering arm-swing trucks for waste disposal, the Agency also purchased receptacles and dumpsters. It carried out extensive workshops for the training and retraining of resource persons and evacuators. Also, in a bid to ensure effectiveness in the enforcement of Environmental Laws within Uyo, the State Capital and other major cities across the State, AKSEPWMA engaged more than 300 officers of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) through a partnership to carry out basic enforcement duties.
Expounding on the policy, the Chairman of AKSEPWMA, Hon Prince Ikim asserted that sanitation duty has to be deepened through enlightenment and enforcement to carry the citizens along in terms of compliance, and where implementation is difficult, enforcement becomes inevitable.
“As an Agency of the State Government, we have tried our best to sensitize our people against the menace of road-side trading, indiscriminate dumping of refuse and littering. While some residents have shown high level of cooperation, a lot more are still working against the laws. To this end, over 300 officers of the Vigilante group of Nigeria (VGN) have been recruited and added to the Enforcement team of the Agency. From October 3, 2019, those officers of the VGN will resume duty at different beats (dump points) and any defaulter of the environmental laws will be made to face the full weight of the law,” Ikim added.
The chairman, Speaking passionately on the duties of the enforcement team, Ikim Said: “the officer of the VGN have just returned from a compulsory training which held at Police Training College in Nonwa, Port Harcourt of Rivers State. They have been properly trained on courtesy, intelligence gathering, regimentation, counter-terrorism and even anti-kidnapping. So I expect them to display high level of professionalism in the discharge of their duties. Meanwhile, let me use this opportunity again, to call on Akwa Ibom people to cooperate with the Agency and her officers so that we can all have a clean and safe environment.”
Ikim, a former Council Vice Chairman and later Chairman of Oruk Anam Local Government Council, urged Citizens and residents of the State to always bag and dispose their waste between 6pm and 6am at designated dump points, decrying that most receptacles and dumpsters are always empty while refuse are dropped on the ground. He warned those who are fond of such act to desist forth worth with or face the consequences. “My agency will not hesitate to apprehend anyone found running foul of sanitation laws. We will equally go after any officer of the Agency who indulges in any unlawful act which is likely to compromise his office or duty.”
According to the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency
AKS 2000 No.8, its Law dated November 2, 2000, the body is fully mandated by the state government. Under PART I: Establishment and Membership
Establishment 1, it states:
(1) There is hereby established an Agency to be known as Akwa Ibom Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency.
(2) The Agency shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue or be sued in its corporate name and may own, hold, and dispose of property.
(3) The Agency shall be integral part of the Governor’s Office and shall be under his control and supervision.
This provision of the law debunks the impression that the Agency is under the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources. Other provisions are as follows:

PART VI
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
25. No person shall cause any waste generated in the process of manufacturing business to be discharged without treating or purifying it in accordance with the standards approved by the Agency.
26. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged untreated human waste into any public drain, water, course, gorge, storm water, drainage or into any land or water.
27. (1) Any waste mentioned under section 28 of this law which is to be discharged by the person generating it shall have been certified by the Agency to have complied with the approved standards set down by the Agency prior to such discharge.
(2) The Agency on being satisfied that the person has complied with the standard approved by it, shall issue a written permission, renewable every twelve months to such person for such discharge.
(3) A copy of any written permission shall be displayed on the premises generating such waste.
28. No person shall discharge into any public drain, water course, water gorge and roads verge, any form of oil, grease, spent oil brought about in the course of any manufacturing or other type of business.
29. (1) No person shall discharge into the air inadequately filtered and purified industrial gaseous waste containing substances injurious to life and property such as Sulphur dioxide, ammonia, chlorine, smoke and metallic ducts, particulates and injurious gases.
(2) No person shall burn or cause to be burnt refuse, tyres, cables or used tyres as sources of fuel without first obtaining a written permission from the Agency.
(3) All car assembling companies and automobile engineering firms in the state shall install exhaust air scrubbers of a standard design.
30. No person shall carry on the business of manufacturing or the storage of chemical, cement (except for use in building), radio-active materials or gases without the written permission of the Agency.
31. No person shall bury or dump or cause or allow to be buried or dumped any expired drugs or chemicals of any type without first obtaining a written permission from the Agency.
32. No person shall dump or burn or cause or allow to be buried or dumped in any land or water any toxic, hazardous substance or harmful waste.
33. No person shall use gamalin 20 or any herbicide or any insecticide or other chemicals to kill fishes or any other aquatic life or for any other purpose in rivers, lakes and streams.
34. No person shall establish petrol stations, gas plants or other petroleum related activities without adherence to approved environmental standards.
35. No person shall engage in any form of petroleum exploration or exploitation activities which cause pollution of the environment through spillage.
36. The organizations and industries mentioned in Schedule II to this Law shall pay pollution discharge fee indicated in the category mentioned therein.
The Law also goes further to empower the Agency as follows: PART VII
Offences and Penalties
37. (1) Any person who fails or neglects to comply with any of the provisions of Section 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 of this Law shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not less than one hundred thousand naira.
(2) Any person who allows toxic waste specified in Section 32 of this Law to be dumped or cause to be dumped or all to be buried in any land or water commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a maximum term of five years imprisonment without an option of a fine.
(3) If the person guilty of an offence under sub-section (2) of this section is a statutory corporation or a body corporate or incorporate such person or body shall be liable on conviction to a fine not less than one million naira and shall in addition bear the cost of removing the dumped waste or substance and restoring the environment to a harmless state under supervision of the Agency.
4. Any person who fails or neglect or refuses to pay the fee prescribed under section 36 of this Law within the specified time shall de guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a affine not less than one hundred thousand naira.
5. Where the person who commits the offence under sub section (4) of this section is a statutory corporation, body corporate or un-incorporate such person or body shall be liable on conviction to affine not less than five hundred thousand naira in addition to paying the fee under section 36 of this Law if he has not complied with the provision.
6. Where it is proved that the offence committed under sub-section (5) of this section was committed with the consent or connivance of or attributed to any neglect or omission on the part of the director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the corporation, body corporate or incorporate as the case may be then such person shall be liable on conviction to a maximum term of five years imprisonment without an option of a fine.
7. In addition to any penalty which may be imposed under this Law, the court may order such premises to be sealed up until such person restores the pollution of the environment to an acceptable state by the Agency.
8. The court shall order any fine imposed on any offender under this Law to be paid into the fund of the State.
9. Any person who:
a) Throws or deposits in an open drain anything capable of obstructing such a drain is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to two weeks imprisonment or a fine not exceeding five hundred naira if he is a first offender, or both the imprisonment and fine if he is a second offender;
b) Throws or dumps or keeps refuses or household waste in any place or thing not being in a standard container prescribed by the agency for the dumping of such a refuse or household waste is guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to two weeks imprisonment or to affine not exceeding five hundred naira if he is a first offender, or both imprisonment and fine if he is a second offender.
c) Keep any waste capable of obstructing traffic or free flow of water in any street, highway, or lane is guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment of one month or a fine and imprisonment.
d) Being the owner, caretaker, or occupier of premises fails to provide a standard refuses bin or container prescribed by the Agency in his premises for the collection and disposal of refuse is guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to one month’s imprisonment or to a fine not exceeding one thousand naira if he is a first offender and both imprisonment and fine if he is a second offender.
e) Being a resident in a premises where the owner, caretaker or occupier cannot be found, fails to provide standard refuse bin is guilty of an offence on conviction shall be liable to two weeks imprisonment or to a fine not exceeding five hundred naira.
f) Discharges or disposes any human waste in any place other than in a toilet and animal waste not in a prescribed lace is guilty of and offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fie not exceeding five thousand naira or two months imprisonment or both fine and imprisonment;
g) Allows weeds, unkempt growths on his premises or any other place of which he is the owner, caretaker, or occupier is guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred naira;
h) Being an itinerant seller or hawker, litters the streets, roads, lanes or highways or any place with his articles or trade is guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred naira or to two weeks imprisonment.
38. (1) All premises within Uyo Capital and other Urban Centres within the State shall be equipped with water closet toilets and the Agency shall have the power to seal up any pit toilet or latrine found in any premises.
(2) The owner or caretaker of the premises who contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to six months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding five thousand naira.
(3) In addition to any penalty which may be imposed under this Law, the court may order such premises to be sealed up until such person restores the pollution of the environment to an acceptable state by the Agency.
(4) The court shall order any fine imposed on any offender under this Law to be paid into the fund of the State
39. (1) If a person is guilty of an offence under section 35 such person shall in addition to the penalty payable under section 37 pay adequate compensation to the affected persons, for the environmental damage arising there from.
(2) An amount equivalent to five percent of the compensation payable under sub-section (1) of this section shall be paid by the offending person to the State.
The chairman, Prince Ikim, during an exclusive interview session, explained that since September 5, 2019 when he assumed office, the Agency under him, have hit the ground running, with the intension to make sure that Uyo, the State capital in particular and the entire State is given a facelift to ensure that the State is the cleanest city in Nigeria.
Referring to recent incident, where a journalist was arrested and detained overnight before her acquittal by the Court, the Chairman said his agency will continue to work with the press as a development partner and stakeholder that will help the Agency drive the needed attitudinal re-orientation of the people, inculcate in them attributes that embraces best practices in proper environmental protection and waste management strategy.
Prince Ikim said the Agency as seen and acknowledged by all, has made recorded tremendous achievements despite challenges the agency may have faced in the last few months since assumption of office.
According to him, the efforts since inauguration has witnessed the introduction of several innovations and activities, acquisitions of equipment mostly modern facilities into the system to fast track the enforcement and implementation of existing environmental laws and instill in the people proper waste management culture obtainable in a 21st century society
The security expert turned politician further explained that the successes recorded so far by AKSEPWMA under his leadership cannot be completed without the mention of the vital role played by the media community in the area of information dissemination and sensitization of the public on the benefits as well as the danger of keeping the immediate and general environment clean and green.
On the issue of the recent alleged assault of a journalist by members of the Agency’s task force, the chairman said the development was rather unfortunate that there was no proper medium of identification by the said journalist, and appealed that the recent incidence should not cause rancour and bad blood with a promise that such ugly incidence will not repeat itself again.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong in taking pictures as a journalist but in doing so, he or she should endeavor to carry along some form of identification medium while on official duties to avoid mistaken identity”.
“I don’t owe anything against the media community in the state, we are rather development partners in Akwa Ibom project. If the press do not report the activities and programmes of the Agency, the general public will not understand exactly what we are doing,” he explained.
Kim said his major challenges is the fact that many people are still not aware that there are laws prohibiting illegal street trading, indiscriminate dumping of waste on water way and other related offences adding such illegal environmental activities could land offenders in prison if found guilty.
“Part 6 of Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency law, cap 47 – 2000, section 25, have highlighted expressly the dos and don’ts in our environment and the punishment that would follow if found guilty,” the chairman argued.
While urging illegal street traders, indiscriminate waste disposers etc, to desist from the act, He therefore solicited the support and corporation of all stakeholders in assisting the Agency carry out effectively it mandate of keeping Akwa Ibom State not only clean but green at all times.