AKSEPWMA moves to tackle carbon emission, climate change in Akwa Ibom
The Chairman, Akwa Ibom state Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA), Prince Akpan Ikim, has restated his commitment to sustain the status of Akwa Ibom as the cleanest state in Nigeria by ensuring a cleaner and greener environment.
Ikim stated this in a press briefing in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital to mark his three years in office as the Chairman of the agency, Monday.
He noted that Akwa Ibom has emerged the cleanest state in Nigeria for three consecutive times and commended the state governor, Udom Emmanuel for his passion toward a healthy environment.
According to him, the agency will collaborate with other stakeholders to tackle climate change and ensure a safe environment for the people of the state.
The text reads:
BEING TEXT OF THE 3RD YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPEECH BY CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF AKWA IBOM STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND WASTE MANAGEMENT AGENCY (AKSEPWMA), OBONG PRINCE AKPAN IKIM DELIVERED AT AKWA IBOM NUJ CENTER, UYO ON 6TH SEPTEMBER 2021.
On the 5th day of September 2018, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Gov. Udom Emmanuel graciously reconstituted the Board of the Akwa Ibom state Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA) and I am the recipient of His Excellency’s magnanimity to be appointed as the youngest Chairman to man the Agency.
Yesterday mark three years of active service through the unwavering support of the Governor, who has driven the state through a towering fame; it’s on this basis that I address you all on the 3rd Anniversary of the present Board Let me begin by thanking God almighty who has taken us this far, our environment-friendly Governor, who has given us the opportunity and necessary support to serve, My beautiful wife, My Children, Board Members, Management, staff, Resource Persons, Evacuators, NMA, NBA, Security Agencies, the Press and all partners too numerous to mention.
The history of AKSEPWMA is one told in two phases; First, AKSEPWMA was established in the year 2000 by a Parliamentary Act; AKWA IBOM STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND WASTE MANAGEMENT
AGENCY LAW Cap 47, LAWS OF AKWA IBOM STATE and after its establishment, the agency went through a period of gestation for 18 years till 2018. This left an inactive Board, embodying a snail-pace progression of activities and functions. After over a decade of inactive Environmental Management services, AKSEPWMA was reconstituted with an eight-man board membership strength: four of the members operate on a full-time basis while four operates on a part-time basis respectively.
The years from 2018 to date have not only witnessed a speed-of-light progression of activities, but a time line hall marked in commitment to the duty of transforming the Akwa Ibom State Environment, through global best practices and cutting-edge approaches on environmental management, to the arousal of national and international applause.
Through our operational models and initiatives, in these three years, Akwa Ibom State has emerged the Cleanest State back-to-back for years: 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. This achievement is a rare feat for the state since its creation in 1987. And it is hitherto attributable to the effort the agency has conceived in its in-time.
It is worthy of note that the reconstitution of AKSEPWMA was borne out of the vision of the Governor for a safer, cleaner and sustainable environment for all, which has allowed industrialisation and investment opportunities to thrive, AKSEPWMA is therefore that catalyst through which such vision has been transmitted into appreciable reality.
From the onset, there was a long-overlooked problem that was staring at the faces of the people of Akwa Ibom: That problem was the long-neglected environment which Akwa Ibom people had inhabited, since inception in 1987. Residents and indigenes had disproportionately borne the burdens of environmental contamination, flooding, poor Vegetation-controlled, blocked drainages, ineffective waste disposal system, all resulting from poor waste management system.
These problems elated some health disparities and reduced opportunities for residents — there were children who missed schools due to complications of environment-related illnesses; there were adults who struggled with medical bills. There is you, who bore all the effects of living in unfriendly environment. But since we all deserve the chance to live, learn and work in healthy communities, the Governor has strived to restore our environment after over a decade of inaction.
That act of reconstitution of AKSEPWMA reaffirmed the right of Akwa Ibomites to breathe freely, live in an uncontaminated land and have a safe, green and healthy Environment, and this mandate is clearly moderated and coordinated by AKSEPWMA.
In our three years of stewardship, we have achieved a lot as a wonder-working Agency in the State with the nifty turning mud into gold. You will all recall that the environmental sector which before now was sterile, and abandoned, has now flourished and blossomed like lilies by the contours of a gushing spring. This has happened only in our three years of productive activities.
OUR THREE YEARS SCORECARD: CREATION OF A NEW ROAD MAP
On our assumption of office, there was nothing on ground for the agency to hold on to. We inherited a blind blueprint. AKSEPWMA had to bend over backwards to get things working at the pace it is today, and that pace is one that matches globally-attuned standards. And the result is our huge triumph over hurdles.
Our first port of call was to create a new road map to stand, given the dearth of working tools, we went to work by hiring equipment. Few months afterwards, we began to acquire the necessary equipment where over 30% of required tools, includes tractors, backhoe, receptacles, payloaders, were acquired at the first phase. We then factored in innovative models in waste management and Environmental Protection and from there, most things that had suffered suffocation in the agency, rejuvenated.
We flagged off programs that were in sync with global best practices in September 2018. By December that year, Akwa Ibom State emerged the Cleanest State in the country.
The year following that was 2019, the agency had not only increased her public image from 5% to 45%, but emerged the cleanest State in Nigeria. That was when the words of L Gant came into the picture, that “He who can see the Invisible, can do the impossible”. The agency has sustained the tempo of performance and intensified efforts on public awareness of its activities, public awareness/sensitisation leads at 51% from 2%; street cleaning/vegetation control moved to 53% from 5%, desilting of gutters at 58%, prosecution of environmental defaulters stood up to 1427 cases, intervention on emergency case, on waste clearance stood at 68% from 7%, staff morale heightened to 63% from 5% etc.
From 2020 AKSEPWMA Streamed up with global standards in wealth- creation, employment and revenue-generating agency through Waste-to-wealth initiatives. The performance Index of the agency, according to study carried out by Telsrad Projects revealed a 85% performance input by the present day AKSEPWMA as compared to the preceding times before Governor Udom Emmanuel
Before we assumed office in 2018, the image of the Agency or public perception stood at a fledgling, 5%. This meant that people hardly could know that an agency as such existed; let alone her ideals and programs. Invariably, at 5%, it portrayed that people could hardly differentiate between the Ministry of Environment and The Akwa Ibom State
Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency. Before we took over, the agency met a monthly Environmental Sanitation exercise participation by the citizenry at 10%. That clearly meant it was as good as nothing. Staff welfare was 5%, revenue generation was 2%, stake-holders participation was about 7%, street cleaning and vegetation control was about 5%, dump site management was handed over at 12%. Refuse had littered the streets with scanty attention to it. Street trading and hawking had uncontrollably skyrocketed. Sanitation court for the enforcement was not working.
Certain working tools such as bulldozers, receptacles etc, were not in place. Waste generation statistics was not available. It was a blind field of work.
This justifies my belief that “Success is not accidental but intentional, so every single day, we will do something intentional to create the success Akwa Ibom deserves”. AKSEPWMA did not rest on her oars. She homed more on reining her functional base. Many functions of the agency through global best practices on environmental management were remodeled to meet global standards.
WEALTH FROM WASTE INITIATIVE
At inception, the Agency inherited a State burdened by overflown waste at each dump point. With a clear-cut vision, AKSEPWMA integrated workable schemes to maximize the waste-based revenues in the form of energy, fuels, heat, recyclables, value-added products, and chemicals along with more jobs and business opportunities that measured up with global best practices on waste management system. Here, Refuse-to- Riches became the catch phrase (mkpo do, ke mbio, akpa checking).
To achieve this, a dialogue was imperative, thus. On Wednesday October 30, 2019, the agency held a maiden stakeholders dialogue -an event that played host to a wide range of professionals, consultants, researchers and stakeholders etc on waste management, at the prestigious Ibom Hall, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The event was not only a harvest of brainstorming initiatives but in tandem with the State government’s innovative effort to better the lives of the populace through employment generation for the masses. “Waste in the 21st century is wealth but takes technicalities in the conversion process, for which reason the dialogue was held”, I said Akwa Ibom at that event was launched into a new phase where waste would no longer be seen as refuse or discarded material, but an asset or resource to reduce not only the landfill volumes but also the dependency on fossil fuels by generating cleaner energy.
Before the dialogue, waste collection from households and transportation to designated dump sites had always been delivered by the Agency through appointed contractors, which had not always seen the light of the day. Citizens and residents would often dump their waste in open spaces and scavengers who moved about would scavenge whatever they could for resale, thereby smothering the revenue yielding potentials of over 15,000 tons of waste generated in our state on a daily basis.
Measures were mainstreamed to curb irresponsible attitudes towards waste. This called for the e’ – (Education, Enlightenment and Enforcement) thereafter, myriad of environmental waste related offences were prosecuted, thus giving way to public consciousness on waste management.
As the chairman of the agency, I am keen on recreating a State of Refuse-to-Riches, where waste generated in Akwa Ibom will be converted to aid power supply and boost our revenue base
VEGETATION CONTROL CLICKS – 68%-
Another landslide achievement of AKSEPWMA is the State’s Vegetation Control before 2018, the vegetation control in the state stood at 5%. At the instance of the present AKSEPWMA, it heightened to 53% in the first two years of our operations. In the year 2021, we are proud to announce that the vegetation control functions have stepped up to 78% from a dangling 53% in 2019.
That Akwa Ibom State stands tall for emerging a three-time cleanest State in Nigeria, is not without the vegetation control function carried out by AKSEPWMA.
When we took over in 2018, we had to develop vegetation management programs to define the best maintenance approaches for each location in the State with a premium on our target.
This approach consists of eliminating or controlling vegetation through a variety of methods including mowing, brush cutting (mechanical and manual), cultivating desirable vegetation, and re-vegetation etc. Vegetation control is a very important function and global best practice of any environmental management agency world over. It entails the process of ridding a space of undesired plant, weed and other vegetation for purposes of attaining a safe, healthy and sustained environment.
Apart from its safety role on the environment, proper vegetation control by AKSEPWMA has budded out the aesthetic value of the state in a three-year timeframe and still counting.
On the other hand, neglect on it would have marred the potentially lovely display of the state, constitute hazard covering up road signs that drivers need to see through, cover up gutters and culverts thereby aiding flooding.
Here we can deduce that the reconstitution of AKSEPWMA breathed a timely sigh of relief not just to vegetation control, but the Akwa Ibom environment in totality.
Here the accolades can roll: while the governor, HE, Udom Emmanuel takes the glory for having the vision for the Akwa Ibom environment, AKSEPWMA takes a bow for transforming his vision into reality.
MANAGING A SUSTAINABLE DUMPSITE
Over 15,000 tonnes of enormous municipal and house-hold waste is generated on a daily basis in Akwa Ibom State, and there is a site which temporarily harbors the generated waste. That site is situated at, Uyo, village Road, Uyo.
In the past, municipal waste management was one of the greatest challenges facing the state. Then, waste management was simply reduced to waste transfer with over flown dump sites that resulted in serious environmental pollution. This was occasioned by inefficient waste collection transportation and poor disposal methods.
Before we took over AKSEPWMA in 2018, the dump site management was at a flinching 12% but today trends above 68 %. But that is not the issue per se. The issue is what could be made out of the waste? On that, AKSEPWMA is poised to convert the generated waste to wealth. This was a puzzle that birthed the 2019 Refuse-to-Riches Dialogue – a dialogue that beamed a green light to another source of revenue to the State government through waste conversion.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN WASTE MANAGEMENT
We launched community participation in waste management on the 6th day of January, 2021, to create a convenient waste management system in local areas, through partnership with local government councils. It has since inception aided much local council in waste management and that is what the plan aimed to achieve.
Around developing countries, it is common for local communities to be excluded from the master plan of waste management effort tends to concentrate on urban centers. Back home, Community participation in waste management had suffered a similar fate prior to the governor Udom Emmanuel’s era. But today, we have rewritten the narrative and our local communities are integral partners in waste management programs.
REPEAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
A major landslide achievement of AKSEPWMA in the last three years is the repeal of the nascent law of the agency. AKSEPWMA was established by a Parliamentary Act in the year 2000. The provisions of those laws have in the present time gone obsolete and cannot regulate the demands of environmental management in the 21st century and beyond.
In order to update weaker areas in most provisions in the existing laws of the agency, bastion needed to be strengthened to buffer enforcement and protect the environment.
Granted that the world is going global, and the society which houses our environment is dynamic, the need to promulgate formidable legal and legislative framework thus became an inescapable imperative, in our drive to flow with global realities in the management and protection of our environment. This also informed the need to repeal “ex post facto” environmental laws to the tunes of extant environmental legislative framework.
On that score, our agency proposed a bill to repeal existing laws of the Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency on the 12th day of February, 2021. The essence amongst many, was, ( 1) to allow for legal and institutional framework for sustainable management of environment; (2) to outline principles for management, impact and risk assessments of the environment; (3) to prevention and control pollution, waste management, (4) to promote environmental quality standards and public participation, (5) to make for compliance and enforcement; (6) to provide a basis for implementation of international instruments of environment; (7) to provide for implementation of the National Environment Policy. All these were made possible by repealing the extant environment laws to the tunes of global standard.
Against this background, the great instance of public hearing and repeal of the laws of AKSEPWMA will helped to fast-track the environmental governance processes on the path of ensuring the sustainability of the Akwa Ibom State environment.
THE GREATER AKWA IBOM CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN
In furtherance of our commitment to proffer lasting solutions to sundry challenges of environmental cleanliness in the State and to sustain the status of the cleanest state in the country, we flagged off THE GREATER AKWA IBOM CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN on Saturday, October 10, 2020.
The purpose was to significantly complement government’s unflinching effort towards the regeneration of the environment and raise awareness on the proper disposal of waste and sundry environmental related matters.
It was also billed to accentuate the role of citizens as key players in the business of environmental cleanliness and management. Residents needed to know that the job of protecting the environment and keeping it clean is not just the governments but everyone’s. And we as an agency we are duty-bound to enlighten, educate before enforcing.
The campaign hinted more on the prohibition of littering the streets, indiscriminate disposal of waste in gutters by residents, defecating in unauthorized flanks, trading at unauthorized areas as well as sensitisation on residents engagement in personal hygiene and general cleanliness We had ace stakeholders in environmental and health sectors, safety personnel, the police, the media and relevant institutions as our partners in general.
DOGGED DAYS IN FRONT-LINE OF COVID-19 BATTLES AND POST COVID-19
The frontline role the agency played in fighting against Covid-19 in the State was overwhelming. The State Government in pledging a more secured future against the bitter stink of the Covid-19 pandemic at the wake of the pandemic, the Governor had launched the agency to the frontline of the battles.
The war against Covid-19 remains a war of courage and commitment, but one that must be matched with actions. This demands that public officials do everything in their powers to extend their responsibilities to the pathetic reality of the day: this is what AKSEPWMA has been doing since the outbreak of the pandemic, and still actively involved. The Agency is dogged days in the frontline of containing the spread of the virus across the state is monument and we ensured that which needed to be contended was waged in a manner it deserves.
And as chairman of the agency, yours sincerely was heard in an interview at the General Hospital, Iquita Oron, Akwa Ibom State, saying that “The exercise was a continuum”, it underscored that I was resolved to fight up until the finish line was in the sight. “The thing is getting more serious than expected”, I intoned – and those words gushed from my mouth with some tints of passion and emotion making me appears more turgid like an unforgiving soldier at a war front.
We did not take chances, as we approached the situation with one ideology: unless much more is done environmentally, much more quickly, the toll in the State could grow exponentially. So far, the ongoing phases of public places decontamination exercise has been very successful. It has seen its green light and recorded huge success. The exercise commenced on April 29th, 2020, and has been more aggressive and far-reaching than ever to-date. This places AKSEPWMA in the forefront of the fight against the spread of Coivid-19 in Akwa Ibom State.
Since commencement, lots of public places have been decontaminated, including: DSS Headquarters Uyo, Doctors Mess Uyo, Isolation Center ISH, Uyo; Ibom Speciality Hospital, Uyo; UUTH mortuary; Doctor’s quarters UUTH ; Emmanuel Hospital Eket; Cottage Hospital Urua Inyang, Ika LGA; Mortuary General Hospital Ikot Ekpene; Ambulances at Ibom Specialty Hospital; Press Center Govt. House; Akwa Ibom NUJ Secretariat Complex, Ministry of Local Government; SSG’s office and still counting
Given that the virus can continue to smoulder in places that are not disinfected, AKSEPWMA is doing everything possible to combat smouldering effect of the virus in contaminated surface areas.
AKSEPWMA is discharging her decontamination function to a scale that makes a difference, especially in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic and the post impact. This goes without saying that AKSEPWMA moves from short-term intensive effort to stop transmission to an equally long-term campaign to clean up surfaces’ areas within the State.
HOUSE TO HOUSE WASTE MANAGEMENT AND EQUIPMENT
Evolving innovative initiatives and program for effective service delivery has continuously characterised our operations, so in the concluding part of our third year, we have implemented the following schemes:
- We commenced the house-to-house waste collection at Ewet housing estate and Shelter Afrique and will inject additional 10 compacting trucks within the two estates to sustain the scheme and in conclusion stream on the scheme in order to boost the revenue base of the state, the trucks are donations of waste management equipment by NDDC as a reward to the Agency for emerging the cleanest state in NIGERIA back to back.
- We have the procured and deployed 20 numbers of 6000 litres of dump stirs waste receptacles by the agency to transfer stations within Uyo Capital City.
POLICY STATEMENT
In the coming year, our projects and initiatives within the year will include the institution of the following:
- Special sanitation corps
- Market sanitation corps
- Clean – up club in schools
- Community sanitation corps
- AKSEPWMA enforcement unit
While the past three years have seen great progress, yet much work remains. In the years to come, we will continue to work with States, stakeholders, and local leaders to identify, aid, and empower areas most strained by Environmental challenges. By this we shall improve quality of life and expand economic opportunity in overburdened communities. And recognizing these same communities many have suffered disproportionately due to climate change, we must cut carbon emissions, develop more home-grown clean energy, harness more schemes internationally attuned practices and prepare for the impacts of dynamic changing climate that we are already feeling across the country.
HIGH POINT OF TODAY’S EVENT: THE UNVEILING OF THE AGENCY CORPORATE LOGO
Gentlemen of the Press, permit me at this point to step forward to present and unveil the first ever corporate logo of the Agency being part of our rebranding initiative this is in keeping in pace with HE Udom Emmanuel who has also gifted the State with a new identity: a State emblem and flag. Finally, we also enjoin you all to visit our interactive website on http:aksepwma.org.nig/
Obong Prince Akpan Ikim Chairman, AKSEPWMA
