Cholera looms in Plateau as refuse takes over major roads, markets in Jos

Following the ongoing strike embarked upon by street sweepers and sanitation workers in Plateau State over unpaid salaries by the administration of former Governor Jonah Jang, heaps of refuse have overrun major streets and markets, including Yakubu Gowon Road, Gada Biu Road, Ferin Gada Market and Terminus Market, among others.
The heaps of refuse which dotted many roads and markets in the state have become sources of diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea which some residents have begun to contract, just as the traders who sell goods around the heaps of refuse located in various markets in Jos, alleged that the heaps of refuse had become source of worry, driving away customers.
Speaking on the health implications of the refuse, Dr Tajudeen Yusuf, who works at a popular hospital on Yakubu Gowon Way in Jos, said that some people had already contracted diarrhoea and cholera as a result of polluted atmosphere and people’s exposure to germs and bacteria emanating from the heaps of refuse.
He disclosed that about five patients had been diagnosed of cholera and diarrhoea in his hospital, giving indications that the level at which people in Jos contract cholera, diarrhoea and infectious diseases can increase in a few days if nothing was done as regards evacuation of these heaps of refuse that have become threats to people’s sound health.
A trader at Terminus Market, Chinyere Solomon, said that the traders in some parts of the market where the heaps of refuse were mostly visible, could not sell as they used to sell wares before the presence of heavy heaps of refuse since “customers prefer to buy goods at a place where they will contract diseases or jeopardise their health status.”
She, however, appealed to the All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration of Governor Simon Lalong to wade in and ensure that heaps of refuse are cleared and evacuated in Jos and all other parts of the state for disease-free lives of the people, adding that environmental sanitation should be good given attention by Governor Simon Lalong.
Efforts to get official reactions from government officials from the Ministries of Health and Environment proved abortive as the new government is yet to appoint commissioners and principal officials that could talk on such matter.