Mararaba residents express concern over poor waste disposal strategies

Some residents of Mararaba in Nasarawa State have expressed concern over the filthy condition of their surroundings because of the high volume of waste littering the entire neighbourhood.

Some of them, who spoke with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, said that if there were enough refuse receptacles in the neighbourhood, the residents would be encouraged to engage in waste-control activities.

The area revealed that garbage dumps waste along the Abuja/Keffi federal highway constitute an eyesore and a threat to the health of the residents of the area.

Mr Emmanuel Umoh, an electronics merchant, attributed indiscriminate dumping of refuse by the roadside to inadequate refuse collecting points or waste receptacles by the pavements.

“I take it as a point of duty to ensure that my business environment is kept clean every morning before I open my shop.

“But to my surprise, whenever I close and come back the next morning the whole place would have been filled up with refuse.

“I have noticed that people living in this area do carry out the nefarious action at night-time, particularly when the shop owners have closed their shops and gone home,’’ he said.

Umoh stressed that Mararaba was densely populated, while the quantity of garbage generated in the area was beyond the management capacity of Karu Local Government Council.

He said that the living conditions of the people of the area were somewhat pathetic as they could not breathe well, adding that the situation was further compounded by the dearth of refuse bins for waste collection.

Another resident, Mrs Victoria Ude, who blamed the situation on poor waste management capacity of Karu Local Government Council, underscored the need to adopt and replicate the waste management system of the Federal Capital City (FCT) in the area.

“I know that there are still some waste management challenges in the FCT but the situation there is not as bad as that of Nasarawa State.

“Due to high population of Mararaba, I advise the Nasarawa State Government to employ young people, who are currently roaming the streets, to monitor the sanitary conditions of this area, among other communities,’’ she said.

Mr Yakubu Musa, a resident of Ado, also in Nasarawa State, said that he was always uncomfortable whenever he traversed the Mararaba area because of offensive odour emitting from garbage dumps by the roadside.

Musa, who noted that the poor waste collection and management situation was not peculiar to Mararaba alone, said that the situation cut across other communities in Nasarawa State.

He, therefore, urges the authorities to introduce pragmatic waste management procedures in the cities and towns of the state so as to guard against disease outbreaks.

He also underscored the need to station more refuse collection bins by the roadside in Mararaba, while ensuring prompt evacuation of garbage from the bins; all in efforts to make the neighbourhood clean.