EDSG Engages Additional 500 Sweepers, Declare Operation Free Edo

Edo State Government (EDSG) has engaged the services of an additional 500 Sweepers, declared Operation free Edo to ensure a cleaner environment across the State.

The 500 newly engaged sweepers have been deployed by EDSG across the 18 local government areas of the State to complement the already existing workforce and ensure the people live in a cleaner and safer environment in Edo State.

The Managing Director of the Edo State Waste Management Board (EWMB), Dr Lucky Enehita-Inegbenehi, who spoke to journalists in Benin City during a press conference on Wednesday in Benin said the State government engaged the sweepers as part of renewed efforts to maintain a cleaner environment across Edo.

He noted that the 500 newly engaged sweepers have been deployed across the 18 local government areas of the state to complement the existing workforce.

Enehita-Inegbenehi added that the State government also acquired modern equipment, including bulldozers, payloaders, tippers and compactors, to improve waste management services.

“We declared ‘Operation Free Edo’, which entails the evacuation of refuse heaps that had remained in different locations for years. We also launched ‘Operation Clean Edo North’,” he said.

The managing director identified dump-site maintenance as one of the board’s major challenges in the past but noted that existing dump sites had been expanded and were now being maintained regularly.

He said the board had dump sites across the 18 local government areas of the state, adding that waste collection had become more efficient.

Enehita-Inegbenehi further disclosed that the board had launched “Operation Show Your Receipt”, under which officials move from house to house to verify that residents are patronising accredited waste collectors and complying with waste disposal regulations.

He warned that waste should only be disposed of through government-accredited waste collectors, stressing that defaulters would face the full weight of the law.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Edo State Parks and Gardens Agency, Mr Stanley Ighodaro, said the agency had embarked on a free tree-planting initiative aimed at preserving the state’s natural ecosystem.

Ighodaro said the agency had developed plans to transform the city centre through the planting of trees at strategic locations in Edo South.

He warned that individuals who deliberately destroyed trees planted to beautify the environment would face stiff penalties if apprehended.