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From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Ebonyi State Government has said that it would register every scrap dealer in the state with a view to curbing the indiscriminate vandalism and stealing of public and private installations and facilities in the state.
Commissioner for Environment, Victor Chukwu stated this at a meeting with members of Scrap Dealers Association of Nigeria, Ebonyi State Chapter in Abakaliki.
He regretted that many scrap dealers were encouraging vandals and criminals by purchasing and selling Government and private facilities.
A statement by the ministry’s spokesman, Okorie Reuben, stated that Chukwu warned the perpetrators that such nefarious activities will no longer be condoned in the state.
He said the commissioner described scrap business as good and permissible to the extent that those involved shunned robbery, vandalism and spared electricity transformers, armoured cables, building materials and other valuables.
Chukwu hinted that the government would soon reconstitute the leadership of scrap dealers’ association to engender robust collaboration with the authorities and ensure that stealing of Government installations made for public use was a thing of the past.
He also announced that a special taskforce made up of people of proven integrity has been constituted by the Ministry to instil sanity in the business of scraps. The taskforce, according to him, will move round the state and arrest criminals involved in buying and selling of people’s stolen materials in the name of scraps.
Secretary of the group, Darlington Nwoke thanked the Commissioner for the meeting, which he said was apt, as the Association had longed for such opportunity.
He noted that the association was not peopled by criminals, reiterating the group’s resolve to ensure that only genuine people, who would not bring disrepute to the organization were allowed to operate in the state.
