Floods: Build Dams, Desilt Major Rivers, Okowa Urges FG •Diri seeks FG’s support, directs workers to go on one-week break •Niger Delta Affairs Minister promises medical, infrastructural relief to Bay
•Niger Delta Affairs Minister promises medical, infrastructural relief to Bayelsa, Rivers, othersWorried by the devastation caused by floods in many states in the country, Delta State governor and vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party , Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday called on the federal government to build new dams and desilt major rivers to check flooding, especially when neighbouring countries opened their dams.
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, appealed to the federal government for assistance, saying the floods in the state were overwhelming and beyond what his government alone could handle.Camps visited by the governor included those at Ogbe-Afor Primary School and Oneh Primary School in Asaba and Ewulu Mixed Grammar School, Ewulu, in Aniocha South Local Government Area.
The governor stated, “I was informed by the SSG, when the team briefed me yesterday, that as a result of the flood, five deaths were recorded, although not inside the camps but across the state, and that is very unfortunate. “And that is not going to be the state government’s function. It is that of the federal government because of the type of dam that will be built across the river. So, it is going to be a major dam.
“So, I think that it is something that the federal government would consider building a dam across River Niger to prevent this from happening and I believe that the PDP government under the watch of Atiku will truly take that as a priority. “You can see that they are well taken care of. In previous years, after their return to their homes, we have always provided some form of assistance and we will also do so this year. We are always compassionate.”
He stated that he had toured some of the ravaged communities and seen first-hand the extent of the destruction. “The narrative is the same across Sagbama, Ekeremor, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, Yenagoa, Nembe and Kolokuma Opokuma local government areas. Businesses have been shut, properties lost and farmlands destroyed.
The governor announced that all civil servants, except those on essential duties, should proceed on a one-week break. He appealed to vendors, particularly of fuel, food, water and pharmaceuticals not to exploit the situation.Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana, disclosed plans by his ministry to collaborate with NEMA, NDDC, and other federal and state government agencies to offer medical and infrastructural assistance to communities in the affected states.
Umana added, “Both the president and I, including the staff of the Niger Delta ministry, wholeheartedly commiserates with the families of those who have lost loved ones due to the flood, and we sympathise with families of those displaced by the flood.”In a related development, New York Times in a report stated that Nigeria was suffering its worst flooding in a decade, with vast areas of farmland, infrastructure and 200,000 homes partly or wholly destroyed.