By TereseTse
Mr. Hyacinth Chukwudi Okafor has continued to gain the attention of many Nigerians because of his hard work and dedication to duty post including the General Manager of Benue State Environmental Sanitation Authority (BENSESA), Hon. Solomon Onah, who did not hide his feeling while describing him recently in a chat with The Voice.
Okafor is a businessman whose hard work and commitment to healthy and clean environment also earned him a job with BENSESA on ad-hoc basis. He is a good example of the saying that, diligence in whatever you do has a reward, no matter how long it takes.
The General Manager of BENSESA described Mr. Okafor as a hardworking man whose passion for cleanliness is a myth.
“He is a man whose like we hardly see again. His passion for cleanliness is a myth. If there is ever a man that shows diligence in his work, he is the one. There is no way you are going to talk about keeping a healthy environment as far as Makurdi is concerned that Okafor’s name will not come up in the discussion. His cleanliness is not limited to the point where our container is being stationed opposite his shop. Many times he goes to other points within the town where our refuse collection containers are kept to operate. It will interest you to know that his workings are not limited to day time alone, he labours greatly both in the days and at nights. In fact, if we have five people of his likes, Makurdi would have surely been litter-free by now.
“As an agency, we pay him a small monthly stipend for his good work. In fact, there is no reward that will be too much for him. I remember at one point, he told me he was going on vacation to his home state, Anambra and he left for about two to three weeks or so and we all felt his impact within the period because of what that area became.
Commenting on why refuse collection containers are no longer emptied frequently as it used to be in the past, the helmsman of BENSESA said, “The hike in the prices of petroleum products has greatly affected our operations. When I assumed duty initially, a litre of diesel was around N200 and it kept rising slowly and gradually with the passage of time and presently, it shuffles between N950 to N1000 per litre and it is not easy to access even with the exorbitant prices. So this crazy rise in the prices of petroleum products is an obvious challenge that has a huge negative impact on the overall freight pricing. You can see that all our vehicles depend on diesel and gas to operate. Nevertheless, we will continue to do our best to compliment the efforts of Gov. Samuel Ortom who has made provision of sanitation equipment of superior standard and has given priority attention to the health and safety of Benue people”.
He bemoaned that many people have formed the habit of indiscriminately disposing waste against the standards and specifications of the sanitation authority. “Rather than follow the proper channels as prescribed by the authority, they employ the services of truck pushers who most of the times, dump waste in undesignated areas and as a result, cause environmental pollution.
Others have developed a perpetual habit of keeping refuse on road dividers in town in spite of consistent sanitation awareness campaigns and I want to use this medium to once again announce to members of the public that we have strengthen our enforcement and prosecution mechanism, it is no longer going to be business as usual. Defaulters of sanitation laws would be tried in the designated mobile courts set by BENSESA. Keeping our environment clean is an obligation that every citizen of this country ought to have taken a personal responsibility because as it is for the good of all, as it encourages personal hygiene and healthy living”.
Mr. Okafor on the other hand reiterated his commitment to keeping the environment clean by all of his efforts and narrated the history of his engagement with BENSESA. “It all began about three years ago when BENSESA stationed one of their refuse collection containers opposite my provision store which people’s usual attitude of indiscriminately disposing refuse was gradually leading to environmental pollution of the area and was liable to cause hazards to human health. So being a person with strong inclination for a clean and hygienic environment, I voluntarily took up the responsibility to ensuring that waste brought to this point were disposed in the right manner. I started this volunteering as far back as the container was kept here and I’m determined to do it as long as God will continue to give me strength. I see this more of a service to the community and a way of complementing government’s efforts. Having knowing that, a dirty environment or let me say air pollution reduces quality of health and lowers life expectancy, I always do this job vigorously as if my whole life is dependent on it without knowing that I was being observed by members of the public including staff of BENSESA and when they saw my genuine commitment, they decided to hire my services on an ad hoc basis”.
On his experiences with residents who always come to dispose their waste into the container, he said, “I must commend the cooperation and compliance of residents who come to discharge their waste here. They do it with dignity and order. I must confess that it wasn’t a funny experience at the initial stage as I was being confronted with both physical and verbal attacks. Somebody will come with a bucket or wheelbarrow full of waste when the container is already filled up and would want to litter the surrounding with it and when you want the proper thing to be done; they take it very personal with you. They labelled me all manner of names; wicked man, madman, jobless man and a host of many other insulting names aimed to mock my integrity but I made up my mind that there is no amount of insults and humiliation that would deter me from doing the job. There is nothing that I have not seen here in the past. Some will creep in with their refuse at the dead of the night to dispose anyhow but the story has changed. There is a lot of improvement in people’s attitude. Gradually, There is law and order in this place and I’m being appreciated by many. I do receive thumbs up here on a daily basis. People stop their cars to give me greetings”.
The 54-year-old Anambra born businessman acknowledged BENSESA for finding him worthy and engaging him on ad-hoc basis. He also expressed satisfaction with the cordial working relationship he enjoys with the agency and appealed for more assistance. “I’m sincerely grateful to the Benue State government through BENSESA for rewarding my services. I started this sanitary work voluntarily as my little way of rendering service to the society without having the slightest imagination of a reward of any kind. However, I’m soliciting for more assistance from Benue State government through BENSESA to enable me continue to perform maximally and efficiently. What bothers me most presently is the increment in my shop rent. I have been here for almost four decades but the percentage of the increment this time is too high. We are living in difficult times. There is hike in electricity tariff, food and essential consumables and this has made life very tough. This has in turn affected businesses and everything. So I humbly solicit for assistance from state government through BENSESA to support the renewal of my rent to enable me stay here because it is my being here that enables me to do this job”.
He advised residents that healthy environment is a collective effort and government alone cannot do it. “To protect environment, the people and government must contribute to keep the environment clean. We ought to imbibe the culture of keeping a healthy environment as a personal habit and adopt better attitude towards sanitation. I have always advised residents and I’m still using this medium to advise that before you take your waste to any of the recycling facility around you, go and inspect the facility to ensure that it has enough space to accommodate your refuse before you take it there”.
Many residents within the area gave good testimonies about Okafor. One of them, who identified himself as Kenneth Adagba, said “he is a man of many parts. If I had not known him earlier, I would have equally toed the path of those who are in the thinking that he is not in his right senses. His utter devotion and advocacy for clean environment is amazing.
Another resident, Ene Igoche said, “The man never goes to sleep. There was a night I went to dump refuse in the container and found out that it was already filled up, so I was trying to off-load on the floor then he suddenly appeared and stopped me. I took the refuse back home with anger and made up my mind to take it the following morning and upon my arrival at the scene which I thought I came early enough; the man was already sweeping the surroundings of the container. That was the day I gave him the appellation, ‘The extra-ordinary man’. He is always the first person to wake up in this area and the last to go to bed”.
On his part, Mr. Demian Ortoho, said “The businessman is a workaholic who never takes time off. I have not seen such a man before. I was surprised upon my realization that he is not a core staff of BENSESA. He is the best example of what Abraham Lincoln said: Whatever you choose to do, you should do it with all your might. He is a hard-working person and hard-working people are in demand everywhere regardless of age, experience and academic qualifications and I believe he will get a reward that corresponds with his service to humanity someday.”