The new Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) general manager, Ogbonna Okereke, has promised Aba would no longer harbour filth during his tenure.

Mr Okereke disclosed this in Aba, the state’s commercial centre, on Saturday while speaking with journalists.

He said Governor Alex Otti’s administration had promised to do things differently to ensure that Abia is placed on the path of progress, including giving Aba a new sanitary look.

Mr Okereke pledged his commitment to change and correct the waste disposal attitude of Aba residents to keep the city in a proper sanitary state.

He said that with the government’s mandate, his agency would also work in other cities to ensure the state sustains a culture of cleanliness as God’s own state.

Mr Okereke said the state had begun production of over 100 units of waste disposal buckets to be placed strategically in Aba and Umuahia, the capital, to ease waste collection.

He noted that the mass production of the buckets through a public-private partnership initiative aims to combat the perennial problem of poor waste disposal in the state.

Mr Okereke added that Mr Otti’s government would involve private investors in waste management in Abia to ensure cleaner cities.

“The present efforts to rid our cities of an indiscriminate waste disposal culture will be pursued with vigour, commitment, and sincerity of purpose,” Mr Okereke promised.

He, therefore, called for the cooperation of all Abia people and residents to support ASEPA in its yearning for a cleaner environment.

(NAN)