The suspension comes days after heavy flooding submerged parts of Uyo, raising fresh concerns about waste management and blocked drainage channels in the state.
The Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA), Prince Ikim, has suspended several waste evacuation contractors over what he described as negligence in discharging their duties.
The suspension followed the chairman’s routine inspection of sanitation conditions in Uyo on Monday, days after flooding affected several communities in the Akwa Ibom capital.
The affected contractors tagged by the government of Akwa Ibom State as “resource persons,” were responsible for supervising waste evacuation around Ibom Hall, IBB Way by the Children’s Home, Samlaw hotel, the Nigeria Labour Congress area and the State Secretariat in Uyo.
Mr Ikim said the officers failed to ensure the prompt evacuation of refuse despite receiving regular payments from the state government.
“The timely removal of refuse remains a top priority for the agency. We will not accept any excuse for lapses in waste management,” he said during the inspection.
He described the sanitary conditions at the affected locations as unacceptable and warned that officials whose actions undermine the state’s environmental sanitation efforts would face disciplinary measures.
The chairman also directed the immediate evacuation of the accumulated waste, and said monitoring would be intensified across the state to prevent similar lapses.
Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Ikim said the suspended contractors were sanctioned because they failed to ensure daily evacuation of refuse.
“They don’t evacuate promptly. I was on a routine visit to those sites. Since they failed to do prompt evacuation, I had to suspend them,” he said.
“Waste should be evacuated every day. I know the level of waste that accumulates if a vehicle breaks down for just one or two days.
“If your vehicle has malfunctioned, you should look for an alternative because there is no month we do not pay them.”
According to him, the agency has paid all resource persons engaged in waste evacuation up to June, while waste evacuators receive a monthly stipend of N50,000 and sweepers receive N30,000.
When asked to identify the suspended officers, Mr Ikim said he did not have their names immediately available and would only be able to access them after returning to his office.
The suspension comes as Akwa Ibom authorities continue efforts to address flooding that recently affected several parts of Uyo.
Mr Ikim said he had remained on the streets since the flooding began, supervising the evacuation of refuse and the desilting of drains and canals to improve water flow.
“We want Nkemba to be totally desilted because when that happens, the concern we have in Port Harcourt Street will be addressed,” he said.
“We are also trying to desilt Ikot Ekpene Road so that all the water around Itam Market will drain off. We are also carrying out minor desilting at Ewet Housing, Nelson Mandela Road and some other locations to ameliorate the flooding.”
Mr Ikim said the suspended officers would only be reinstated after providing satisfactory explanations for their failure to perform their duties.
“They can only be reinstated when they show cause. They cannot do what they did, especially during this period of heavy rains,” he said.
“Let us do our own bit and let people on the streets do theirs.”
He added that the suspension could last up to three months or longer, noting that the agency would deploy intervention measures to maintain waste evacuation services in the affected locations pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings.
