Rivers Council Places Bounty On Manhole Cover Thieves
Barikui Felix, Felix
Following the menace of manhole cover theft in Port Harcourt City Council in Rivers State, the chairman, Ezebunwo Ichemati, has placed a bounty of one hundred thousand Naira on each manhole cover thief caught within the metropolis. The bounty also covers any trace of buyers of the stolen manholes within the Port Harcourt metropolis.
Ichemati made the announcement following the arrest of a suspected manhole cover thief at the Abali (CFC) flyover axis of Port Harcourt by a vigilante in the Ogbum-nu-Abali community in Port Harcourt LGA.
Ichemati lamented that, aside from the millions of naira that the council will spend to replace the stolen manhole covers in Port Harcourt, this also poses a security risk to the council’s people and road users.
He noted that there have also been reports of children falling into open manholes due to the activities of manhole thieves and thanked the vigilante group for apprehending the suspect. Ichemati said it was unfortunate that vibrant young men who should toe the line of legality and fend for themselves resort to vandalising government property.
“It’s a sad one that across the length and breadth of Port Harcourt City local government, you see these daredevil individuals; they vandalize all the manholes. And apart from vandalising these manholes, it also causes security threats because vehicles that are not smart enough and did not see them early will move into it, and you don’t know what will happen when you have a follow-up vehicle behind.
“Across Port Harcourt City Local Government, we have over 100 manholes stolen. I did my count and that manhole will be costing the local government about 20 million Naira to fix. This is money that can be channelled into other things,” he said.
The council boss said the present suspect brings to two, the number of persons so far apprehended by the council in the act.
“I moved around, caught one before, and this particular person now is the second person that will be apprehended. And thanks to the vigilante, the young man decided to move beyond where he’s covering to go as far as catching this person.
“And today, we’ll be placing a bounty that anybody that gives a link or information to how these manhole thieves or those who buy the covers from them will be caught will be given the sum of 100,000 Naira,” Ichemati added
