By Jude Njuko

Against the backdrop of  massive flooding in some states, the Ondo State Government said it has risen to the occasion and has  put in place  measures to ensure that incidents of flooding are nipped in the offing.

Commissioner  for the Environment, Mr Shola Ebiseni, a lawyer, who disclosed this to newsmen during a recent interaction, explained that through its integrated channelization effort and the war against filth, the state has ensured that  predictions of the Nigerian Metrological Agency on flooding in the state did not come true.

According to him, the state applies  both amphibious and manual excavations in the construction of  its channelization projects aimed at freeing  the river courses of weeds  and filth that may obstruct the free flow of water. Mr Ebiseni said the government has spent a total of N1.2billion in this regard.

The Environment commissioner who regretted that many communities have disappeared  due to the unwholesome activities of oil companies.

“The problem of oil spill and  the degradation of the environment,  a consequent of  oil exploration and exploitation in the state has been more pronounced in the state than the other Niger Delta states. Long before exploration and seismic operations commenced in other parts of the country,  we have long faced the challenges associated with oil exploration,” he said.

Ondo State, according to Ebiseni, has been living under the yoke of the negative effects of exploration activities of oil companies as the fifth largest producer of oil in the country with the twin problem of   coastal erosion because of the peculiarities of the state’s coasts which is marshy and muddy.

“Their activities has deprived the people their traditional occupation which is fishing and other aquatic activities,  which has  completely disappeared from our coasts as a result, endangering their survival which is based on water,” he said.

The commissioner decried the opening up of channels  in the hinter land by oil companies  where their wells are domiciled  into the Atlantic  where they have their major offshore facilities.  This he said, allows for the widening of channels which create havoc in the communities and compelling the villages  to relocate from their ancestral lands more than three times.

Some of the villages, according to him, are Molutehin, Ayetoro, Awoye, Ori-oke Iwa Mimo and Mbereke. The problem, Ebiseni said, is endemic that it affects all the coastal communities of the state which stands the risks of  extinction. He called for   the synergy of  relevant agencies to make meaningful impact.

They include  the need to construct embankments, dykes and sand filling. He however, stated that the cost of achieving the suggested solutions are enormous and well   beyond what the state government can handle.

On the efforts of the government so far, he said they have made representations to the Federal Government to access the ecological fund. The government has also sought the assistance of agencies  like the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta and Ondo State Oil Producing and Development Commission OSOPADEC.

He decried the effects of water hyacinth in the riverine areas of the state. Areas seriously affected  by the aquatic weeds are Ilaje, Ese Odu, Okitipupa, Odigbo and Lisa.