By Nwogha Ndubuisi
Illegal environmental task force operators have taken over Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, molesting shop owners in their attempt to force residents to buy disposable waste buckets.
The group, operating with tricycles, recently confiscated goods from shop owners who questioned the legality of their operations.
One of the victims, Mr Solomon Nweke, a phone accessories dealer at St Patrick Road, Kpiri-kpiri, opposite Ugo Martins Drive, lamented that the group, with the Ebonyi State Ministry of Environment’s IGR Board boldly encrypted receipt, said the operators stormed his shop and requested that he pays N15,000 for not obtaining the approved environmental waste bucket.
The action, according to Mr Nweke, forced many shop owners to start closing their businesses, as all efforts to convince them that there was no public notice that directed them to pay such money fell on deaf ear.
He narrated that the team leader, Mr Amechi ransacked all the shops within the area and later made away with his bunch of Oraimo phone cords.
Another victims, Mrs Nwiyi Ukamaka, a thrift wears dealer, and Engr Chibueze Njoku, narrated their ugly experiences and blamed the state government for the introduction of multiple taxation, even when they are aware of the economic situation.
However, in our investigation, the Head of Department in charge of Environmental Health Service, Mrs Uzoke Jacinta revealed that the ministry did not contract the sale of waste buckets, noting that the ministry had received a lot of complaints and warned those sabotaging it to desist from such heinous act.
When Aljazirah Nigeria contacted the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Victor Chukwu, he confirmed the activities of the saboteurs and urged the public to report those involved for arrest and prosecution.
