The Imo State government has directed the immediate withdrawal of officials of the Imo State Environmental Transformation Commission (ENTRACO) from the state’s roads and streets.

The directive which was given on Wednesday also includes that the police should arrest and prosecute any official of ENTRACO found on the streets or roads in Imo State demanding or harassing motorists.

The decision was reached after the day’s weekly State Executive Council meeting.

Briefing newsmen, the Commissioner for Information, Chief Declan Emelumba noted that the government had received numerous complaints from members of the public on the nuisance which persons who claim to be officials of ENTRACO constitute to motorists on the roads and streets of Owerri and its environs.

Flanked by his colleagues in Works, Barr. Raph Nwosu and Transport, Barr. Rex Anunobi, and the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor, Oguwike Nwachuku, Emelumba further disclosed that Governor Hope Uzoodimma got commendation for roads he commissioned in Owerri municipality last week.

“Council noted that in the history of the state, no governor had awarded road contracts of the nature Governor Uzodimma awarded and got them completed and commissioned within such a short period of time,” the Commissioners said.

Emelumba informed that the commissioner for transport was directed to incorporate members of the civil guard into his proposed transport management template to be called Imo State Traffic Management Agency pending the completion of the legal framework that will spell out the modus operandi of the agency and its personnel.

In another vein, the commissioner for works was directed to revoke the contract of the Naze-Ihiagwa-Obinze road and to urgently re-award it to a more committed contractor because of the strategic importance of the road so as to stop the hardship the original contractor had subjected the users of the road to since he got the contract.

The banks, he said, have been urged to recover the mobilization fee paid to the contractor handling the now revoked Naze-Ihiagwa-Obinze road.

On the corroded masts belonging to some telecommunication firms in the state, Council urged the Board of Internal Revenue to send demand notice to the affected firms so that they can pay for the environmental hazards such masts have caused the state and its citizens.

According to Emelumba, the Council also took critical decisions that affected ministries like Environment, Tourism, Works, and Transport.

He said Council urged that the Imo State Zoo at Nekede originally domiciled with the ministry of Environment be moved to that of Tourism so as to enhance the potentials of the state’s zoological garden.

Emelumba further explained that Council commended the Commissioner for Education on the efforts his ministry made to ensure that the reopening of schools in Imo was successful to enable the students writing for their West African School Certificate Examination participate.

•PHOTO: Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba (Centre) flanked by his colleagues in Works, Barr. Raph Nwosu (left) and Transport, Barr. Rex Anunobi (2nd left), and the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor, Oguwike Nwachuku (right) briefing newsmen after the Executive Council meeting today at the Government House, Owerri

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