A waste management expert, Mr Bright Ayebakari has revealed the horrific details of things they encounter in the line of business.
Ayebakari, who is the managing director of Brikari Nigeria Limited, the waste management contractor of Bayelsa State Government, revealed that on a weekly basis corpses of little children, severed body parts, and native doctors charms are found in refuse bins.
Ayebakari, who spoke to NDV in Yenagoa, on refuse disposal and challenges in the state, said: “In our job, we are not supposed to pick corpses, but we see corpses, we see body parts, we see arms and ammunition at times, these are supposed to be classified. Most times, we see corpses, there is no week that we do not pick corpses of little children.
“Sometimes, the medical facilities amputate body parts, the recent one we evacuated was someone’s leg, an adult, somewhere near the New Commissioners’ Quarters in the state capital.
“I think it emanated from a medical facility located around the area and each time we see things like that, we call the attention of the Commissioner for Environment or the Permanent Secretary and the Police, and if it is a corpse, those agencies will do the needful and bury the corpse.
“Occasionally, we pick arms and ammunition and in such cases, we call the police. Recently, we picked two locally made guns and cartridges and we called the attention of the Special Adviser on Security to the Governor. That is to tell you that our workers don’t want anything to do with crime,” he said.
Human waste enclosed in bags
Ayebakari added: “Another thing that results to issues is that we do not have toilets here in some houses, especially the indigenous communities, they do not have toilets. They package their human waste in a polythene bag and take it to the refuse receptacles. These are the major issues we are facing. In this part of the world, we do not sort refuse, everything is packed in one place.
“We have medical wastes, organic wastes, metal wastes, plastic wastes and so on and they are not supposed to be bundled up together, but here, it’s complete confusion because everything is bundled together and we are used to it.
Bag of US dollars
“We are not used to attacks, sometimes some public-spirited persons give our boys money. There was a day we even picked US dollars in a bag, but something funny happened. We picked this bag of dollars from the refuse receptacles, loaded it and threw it away at the dumpsite, the driver is not used to dollars, so he said that they were fake dollars.
“Then those who picked it called the local bureau de change operators and when they came, they discovered that they were real currency, and before you knew it, some of them got N5 million, N3 million and so on. So apart from bad things, we equally see good things too,” he asserted.
We notice native doctors’ concoction
On spirituality, the managing director told NDV: “So we see the good, the bad and the ugly. Sometimes we pick native doctors’ concoctions too. If not for God Almighty, we can have some spiritual problems or issues too. That is the kind of environment we operate in.
“Therefore, we have a complete church in our yard. If you are a Muslim, we give you yours and you manage your beliefs. We have four resident pastors, every morning after preaching and prayers, the safety officer still reminds them of what is expected of every staff.
