Lawmaker explains Polluter Pays Bill, as Abia table water producers cry out

Association of Table Waters Producers, ATWAP, Umuahia Zone, has described HAB 31: a Bill for a Law to Establish Abia State Polluter Pays and Extended Producer Responsibility for the Management of Non-biodegradable Packaging Materials and for other matters connected therewith, as anti-people.

The Bill, they said, will strangle their operations, cause hardship, and lead to loss of jobs if it becomes law.

Speaking during a monitored programme on Spin FM, Umuahia, on Monday, Peter Nwakanma, Chairman of ATWAP Umuahia Zone, and Anthony Nnamaka, Secretary, alleged that through this bill, the Abia State Government may strangulate SMEs with more tax burdens on businesses that are already struggling to survive.

They noted that they were already contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the state as well as providing employment opportunities for the youths.

The table water producers, who described water as an essential commodity and a universal solvent through which substances dissolve, argued strongly that government cannot hold them accountable for failing to provide enough buckets and waste bins to guarantee proper waste disposal.

They also stated that on their products, it is explicitly written that consumers should “discard or dispose appropriately.”

The ATWAP leaders urged the Abia State House of Assembly to modify the bill, stressing that if there are enough waste management buckets, consumers would not litter the streets of Abia State.

But the sponsor of the bill and member representing Ohafia South in the Abia State House of Assembly, Kalu Mba-Nwoke, said that the intention of the bill was being misinterpreted by the Association of Table Waters Producers, ATWAP, Umuahia Zone, arguing that it was not anti-people.

He noted that the bill was suggesting other ways manufacturing companies using these materials can repackage their products to avoid seeing them litter the streets of Abia State, as well as carry out their Corporate Social Responsibility.

He maintained that Governor Alex Otti has been encouraging Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and urged the table water producers and other concerned persons to pencil down their misgivings about the bill and come forward with those inputs during the next public hearing, and to avoid making uninformed statements.

Lawmaker explains Polluter Pays Bill, as Abia table water producers cry out