Owerri — Residents of Owerri municipality have threatened to move all the abandoned heaps of refuse to the major roads if government fails to evacuate them within 24 hours.

Issuing the threat on behalf of his colleagues during a peaceful demonstration in Owerri, the Chairman, Ofu Obi Line in the New Market, Mr. Livinus Eze, described as "sheer deceit" the relocation of refuse bins from Douglas Road to the markets and later refuse to evacuate them.

"The relocation of refuse dump inside Eke Ukwu Owerri and New Market has endangered the lives of traders and their customers", Eze lamented.

While saying that flies have since taken over the mountains of refuse scattered all over Owerri, Mr. Eze also fumed that epidemic of unimaginable proportion may hit residents of the municipality if nothing was done to check the health hazard.

Reacting to the ugly situation in a post sent to our Correspondent's mail box, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Chinedu Offor, said: "Efforts are being redoubled by the state government to arrest the situation".

Offor also explained that while government had continued to cart away refuse from the designated sites, some people have remained in the habit of throwing wastes indiscriminately, thereby making refuse disposal more difficult.