Residents of the Federal Low Cost Housing, Ugbowo, Benin, Edo State are at loggerheads with the management of the University of Benin Teaching of Hospital over the dumping of refuse from the hospital within the estate. The residents told Sunday PUNCH that they are uncomfortable and fear possible outbreak of diseases.
One of the residents, Prof Wilson Osarodiagbon, while speaking with our correspondent, called for the intervention of state authorities to prevail on the hospital to cease dumping waste on the estate. He said the residents wanted the dump relocated out of their estate.
He said, “Our aim is to let people know the major problem we are facing on the estate, which is the danger posed by a dump we met here. The houses are becoming more as people are now developing their properties. Next to the dump are houses inhabited by people. Right now, we feel that this is not healthy for us. We are afraid this may trigger a disease outbreak on the estate.
“Whenever it rains, the site is always flooded and a gully is already developing. We initially fenced the place to stop the dumping of refuse but the fence was pulled down.
“The site is obviously a breeding ground for rodents, dangerous reptiles and mosquitoes. The stench from this site is a prelude to airborne diseases.
“We are appealing that this dump be relocated, notwithstanding that it had been here before we bought our lands. We are not fighting the authorities.
“If a member of the estate comes down with a strange illness like Lassa fever because of rats that are bred at the dump, there is a possibility that it could spread to other parts of the state. In any case, we don’t want to lose any of our landlords.
“We have tried our best to find a solution but it has not worked and that is why we are using this medium to draw attention to this problem. We cannot live with this dump site any longer. It could have been a good location for dumping of refuse before this estate was established but today it is not. As the town is expanding, what is appropriate at a time, might no longer be appropriate now.”
The Secretary General of the landlords’ association of the estate, Shallywest Eboigbe, noted that it had been difficult for UBTH to see reasons with the residents on the need to relocate the dump site.
He said, “Several attempts to get UBTH to see reasons and relocate the site has not yielded any result. The dry season is fast approaching and people will need to stay out of their houses to get fresh air but we cannot do that because of the odour oozing out of the dump site.
“When it rains, the place is always flooded and it can cause an epidemic. The Federal Government allocated this land to us and we spent several millions of naira to make it habitable but unfortunately some of us are thinking of leaving the place we have invested so much in.
“They burn the refuse in the evenings and the smoke engulfs every part of the estate, which is not healthy. Every attempt to reach the UBTH management and ensure they take positive action is not working. I spoke to the authorities of the Federal Housing Authorities when we met two weeks ago and he said he had written to the CMD of UBTH and the Edo State Government about the problem. But we feel that the speed at which action is being taken is slow.
“We have met the comptroller thrice about the issue and he asked us to put together a document which we did in form of a compendium and handed over to him. Our demand is that the UBTH should ask their contemporaries how they treat the waste they generate. Hospital waste should not be dumped near residential area. If you look at the site, you will see that it is close to people’s plot of lands and the earlier they relocate the dump site the better. This is a matter of safety.”
The Federal Comptroller, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, (Housing sector), Edo State, Abu Jeremiah, said efforts were on to ensure the dump site was relocated.
He noted,”The issue is that we did not allocate the place for UBTH as a refuse dump. But we are talking to UBTH to see how it can be resolved because the residents of the estate have complained to us a number of times. We have been at the site on some occasions and we also know that it is not good to have it within a residential environment. We will see how we can get UBTH to relocate the site. We have also written to the state Ministry of Environment to step in and see how the issue can be resolved.”
However, the Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Jonathan Lawani, described the dump site as illegal and said he was surprised to discover its existence.
“I got a call from one of the leaders of the residents of this area and as a representative of a responsible government, I came here with the General Manager of the Edo State Management Board to see things for ourselves. What we are seeing is condemnable, unimaginable and totally sad.
“What is baffling is that it is being done by people who are learned and are supposed to care about the health of the people. The UBTH management know what environmental health means and should know that a communicable disease can break out from here.
“We have a law in the state, which is against illegal dump site. Before the state approves a dump site, environment assessment has to be carried out. For a medical waste, it becomes more hazardous to health. We even met the refuse being burnt, which makes the air around the site unfit for human lives.
“The Edo State Government will send a letter to UBTH with a notice to end the dumping of refuse at the site and take away the ones that are already there. We will also ensure we bring security personnel to stop the dumping of refuse here, which is an unaccredited dump site.”
The Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Research and Ethics, UBTH, Dr Esohe Ogboghodo, said the dump site predated the estate and the site was excavated to build UBTH.
She said, “We have been using the place as sanitary landfill to reclaim that land which was excavated to build UBTH. We have an environmental health department that sees to the separation of our refuse into hazardous and non-hazardous waste. We have three functional incinerators where we incinerate our hazardous waste according to international best practices. What we dump on that site is non-hazardous waste. That is the waste collected from our guest house, housing units and kitchen.
“The entire land belongs to UBTH but about eight years ago, the Federal Ministry of Housing and Works sold it to private individuals. We have a survey showing that the land belongs to us and there is no official document stating otherwise.
“There are plans to relocate the dump site. We are discussing with the Ministry of Environment to give us another place. These things take time and till then, we will continue to use the place to dump our non-hazardous waste.
“We pride ourselves as a foremost health institution that is involved in ensuring health and safety, especially where we live and work.”
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