Tourism has been the flagship of Cross River State, especially Calabar, which earned the name ‘Clean and Green’ due to its former clean state. But assessing the current state government’s performance in this area in the past one year, one can rightly say it has been a big failure.

Poor funding, broken down trucks, inadequate refuse bins and inconsistent government policies have all been identified as the causes of the filth in the city of Calabar, which has never been so dirty since 2009, when former governor, Mr. Donald Duke introduced the ‘Keep Calabar Clean and Green’ campaign.

Though the state government says it spends about N45 million monthly to keep Calabar clean, this claim is negated by the heaps of refuse that is making everywhere dirty and stinking, raising fears of an epidemic. Calabar Urban Development Authority (CUDA) has 10 trucks but only five are functional, as the rest are down with one problem or the other, while the refuse bins are not enough. The Guardian observed that there is no official car for the Executive Secretary, who uses his personal Peugeot car to carry some workers to their duty posts.

Investigation shows that CUDA workers are owed two months salary, while workers of the Cross River Waste Management Agency are owed 21 months. Waste Management Agency is another government organ handling waste, but of recent, it has been idle due to no pay and inefficient equipment.

As some civil servants in the state were celebrating the payment of their May salary on May Day, about 300 workers of the Cross River Waste Management Agency on May 3 stormed the governor’s office in Calabar, carrying different placards to protest the nonpayment of 21 months salary arrears owed them.

Speaking on behalf of the protesting workers, Mr. Joseph Fernandez said that the last time staff of the agency received their salaries was in August 2014 and no one has ever received any payment since then.

The problem of refuse management in the state is enormous. Reliable sources in CUDA and Ministry of Environment said, “as it is now, CUDA cannot even evacuate corpses because the cost of removing a dead body is N20,000, which CUDA pays. Government is not funding this. Calabar Municipality and Calabar South have Environment Departments saddled with the responsibility of carrying dead bodies, but they shy away from it and transfer it to CUDA. We do all these with N15m.

Said he: “We were fully engaged by the Cross River government as members of staff of the agency. Our peaceful protest to the governor’s office today is to tell him that we are suffering, as a result of nonpayment of our 21 months salary arrears. Some of us have become beggars. Seven persons have lost their lives, while trying to battle with hardship, as a result of nonpayment of salaries. Our governor is an environmentalist; we trust that he will hear our cry and come to our rescue because hardship is telling on our faces.”

Since assuming office last year, the state governor, Senator Ben Ayade has battled unsuccessfully to keep Calabar clean. Experts suggest the only solution is for the government to be more committed and address relevant issues frontally, such as implementation of the house-to-house collection of refuse and collection of a monthly stipend, as government cannot drive it alone.

The house-to-house system failed because government was not committed, but experts have advised government to return to it. The green bins were introduced for Ekorinim, State Housing, Federal Housing and Satellite town. People in Municipal were to pay N500 and those in Calabar South N200 monthly. But this was not to be. People now use the bins to fetch water, while the cans on Barracks Road are underutilised and the one at Goldie by Watt Market is overused.

The state government had earlier sacked the two outfits, Patson and Pason that were handling the refuse contract and handed it over to CUDA with Mr. Joe-Mary Ekeng as the Executive Secretary. Later, the Ministry of Environment was added with Mr. Mike Eraye as the Commissioner. To date, CUDA has been handling refuse in Calabar South, as well as street sweeping generally and other duties with a monthly subvention of N15 million, while the Ministry of Environment handles refuse in Calabar Municipal with a monthly subvention of N30 million.

The problem of refuse management in the state is enormous. Reliable sources in CUDA and Ministry of Environment said, “as it is now, CUDA cannot even evacuate corpses because the cost of removing a dead body is N20,000, which CUDA pays. Government is not funding this. Calabar Municipality and Calabar South have Environment Departments saddled with the responsibility of carrying dead bodies, but they shy away from it and transfer it to CUDA. We do all these with N15m. Fuel is expensive. We pay to cut grass. We work late into the night. No money to work with. Only 40 Solo bins are good and the rest bad, for which we use stone to support. Skip bins are also bad.

“CUDA pays sweepers, grass cutters and persons to remove corpses, but environmental ministry does not. The Commissioner said salary of sweepers should be increased from N6, 000 to N15, 000 and that they should work from early morning to 4pm. But how feasible is that? Imagine the road hazard during peak periods. How can they sweep continuously? No rest for the women. Before mid-day, they are supposed to have been dismissed. We pay them N15, 000 and the monthly wage bill for the women alone is N15m. That is 1,000 x N15,000. That alone has taken away CUDA subvention, talk less of grass cutters, waste management, vehicle maintenance and others.”

Desperate to arrest the situation, Senator Ayade had directed that each top government official should monitor refuse growth and movement in his area of resident, but that has also failed. The sacked contractors have even been re-engaged indirectly, yet the situation is still bad.

Commenting on the terrible refuse situation, the Executive Secretary of CUDA said: “We are doing the best we can. Our Governor, Professor Ben Ayade is doing his very best. We are awaiting arrival of skip bins. If you’ve noticed, most of the areas overflowing with waste are places, where skip bins are lacking. We need more to clear the waste in those areas. Wastes in the market areas come in large quantities because of the nature of the places. But as soon as those bins arrive, those issues will be addressed.

“We have about 24 skip bins location. We have about six that we move around just to clear the areas. We are expecting about 50 soon. We do not have enough trucks, as they got broken down due to usage, but very soon, His Excellency will come out with clear cut costing on waste evacuation for the state.”

On his part, the Commissioner for Environment said: “that issue has been on for a while and I ought to have addressed stakeholders this morning (May 17), but the information went out late”.

Eraye admitted that the bins, which represented one of the symbols of Cross River State’s aesthetic values, have become an eye sore. “The Cross River State Ministry of Environment has set on motion the process to replace damaged bins along all routes in Calabar Metropolis. The worn-out bins and those destroyed by residents, who use them to burn waste, are being replaced with galvanised and skip bins imported from Germany,” he said.

He explained that there are about 653 bins in Calabar Municipality and 384 bins in Calabar South, but an additional 100 and 200 are required in these two areas. The supply of the bins are to be done in phases, starting with the carnival route, which has all the bins at designated locations already replaced, while other places, where waste were being deposited on the ground, have all been provided with bins in the Municipality.

Said he: “The process would be on-going until adequate and appropriate bins are provided at every designated location. We have set the agenda to drive the environment, to restore Calabar, restore the veggies, restore the green areas and protect them.

“Also, the equipment for waste management is not a toilet tissue you go to shelves to procure. Though we met some structural weaknesses on ground, Governor Ayade is ensuring that we get all required to drive the process, which naturally would take time.

“There are two variables. One, we are to get the resources right. We need some time, since we don’t manufacture anything here. We have to get a few series of equipment to support the effort; both are ongoing. What we are using now are weak structures that we inherited. Unfortunately, a deficient structure, poor equipment and the work force have to be re-established.”

•Sourced from The Guardian. Photo shows heap of refuse.