…residents cry out as Edo govt begins desilting of drains

Emma Amaize

Residents in Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States in South-South region have cried out over rampaging flood that has sacked thousands and submerged over 200 homes.Akwa Ibom, C’

In Bayelsa state alone, flood submerged over 20 communities and displaced thousands of families in the predominantly riverine Bayelsa State, while 60 houses were submerged in Cross River State, on Wednesday.

The situation is gradually assuming a worrisome, especially in communities along the bank of the River Niger and its tributaries, River Forcados and River Nun, Ikole Creek, Epie Creek and others that traversed, Sagbama, Ekeremor, Kolokuma-Opokuma, Yenagoa, Southern Ijaw and Ogbia council areas.

READ ALSO: Rainfall: Flood takes over Lagos community, traps pupils in school

Most of the low lying areas of Tombia, Ekpetiama, Akenfa, Agudama, Akempai, Edepie, Etegwe, Opolo, Biogbolo, Azikoro, Agbura, Amarata, Onopa and Ovom communities in Yenagoa council area of the have been submerged by flood,  leaving thousands of families displaced.

Also parts of Elebele, Imiringi, Emeyal, Kolo, Otuoke, Ayama Ogbia, Onuebum, Otuokpoti in Ogbia local government council are currently underwater forcing some of the affected victims to relocate to dry areas while others have stayed backed to brave the odd and watch over their valuables because of the fear of their home being pillaged by marauders.

Adagbabiri, Trofani, Anibeze, Tongbabiri, and others along the bank of the Forcados River are also facing the worst of this year rising flood.

Residents of the affected areas now access their houses by canoes.

Speaking on the sad development, a resident of Akenfa suburb of Yenagoa, Mrs. Edaere Lawson said the flood had rendered almost all the residents homeless noting that over 100 houses were sacked with no fewer than 2000 persons affected.

Another victim, Mr. Raymond Dakeyi, lamented that flooding had become a problem in the area and accused successive administrations in the state of being insensitive to their plight.

He said: “without sounding immodest the governments have not been fair to us over the years. They have abandoned us, all that matters to the politicians in the forthcoming governorship election. I have since moved my family to my cousin’s place pending when normalcy returns.

“It will be suicidal leaving the children in such a horrible environment and exposed to dangerous reptiles such as snakes and others.

READ ALSO: C’River: Bakassi Deep Seaport to cost $2bn — Devt Commission

“We need assistance from the government to mitigate our suffering,” Dakeyi added.

Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iwpriso Markson, could not be reached at press time for comment, but an official, l who spoke anonymously, said, “it is a natural occurrence which the state has had to contend with over the years.”

In Cross River state, there was pandemonium as flood submerged over 50 houses,   in the early hours of Thursday, at West Odamba community in Atimbo, forcing to vacate their houses.

Residents,   including a staff of Cross River State Newspaper Corporation, Etcheri Ekpeyong ,  said the blocking of the channel caused the water to overflow its natural route and entered houses.

Etcheri said, “I have been living here for over 14 years, I have never experienced such . The contractor working in Navy Barracks blocked the water channel while excavating. When the heavy downpour started, the whole area became flooded. All our houses were submerged in”

“We are appealing and praying the government to help us with foams, and cash because as we speak many of the people here are now homeless, and they have nowhere to go to.  In terms of niara and kobo, we have lost millions of naira,” he lamented

Another victim, Mrs. Rita Asuquo, said: “Everything in my house is gone, the only thing I have left is the clothes that I am putting on, and everything I have worked for in the last 25 years is gone. The government should help us, the rain was in the night and there was no light, we had no choice than to run away,” she said.

Director-General, State Emergency Management Agency in Cross River, SEMA, Prince Ayim said , “We had red alert earlier, and we went to the communities to warn and sensitize them to move to higher grounds, many of them built on water channels.”

“We also know that many of them who have built value their houses more than their lives, we have been begging them to move, they have remained adamant. We are also appealing to them to stop building near water channels and to stop dumping their refuse into drainages whether natural and constructed.

“We are calling on the Federal government to assist us with relief materials as we are working on our records to send to the national,” he said.

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Reports from Akwa Ibom state said that flooding has led to the loss of many lives and submerged properties worth millions of naira across the state.

Uyo, the state capital has witnessed perennial flooding,  as some parts are lying below the sea level and the menace seems to have defied solutions put forward by successive administrations in the state.

For instance, the June-July-August rainfall in Uyo had ravaged low level, flood prone areas,  leaving residents with tales of woes and not even highbrow areas such as Shelter Afrique, Ewet Housing Estates were spared.

The ‘C Division of the State Police Command along Aka-Etinan road and the environs have also witnessed the menace of the flood,  as the Police have vacated the administrative block and only  using one block to run their activities.

Worse hit is the IBB Way, Uyo, the state capital where some residents have abandoned their homes and offices, just as motorists have also boycotted IBB, plying adjoining Esuene Street to their destinations.

Residents of Ubara community in Use offot, Uyo, narrated their share of bitter experience of flood in the community.

Unyime Sunday, said, “Fear grips us every rainy season, our properties and lives are not safe, especially the school children who may be returning from schools anytime there is a heavy rain.’’

Apparently, to address the ugly scepter, Obong Victor Attah introduced the pipe jacking or micro tunneling technology and his immediate successor, Senator Godswill Akpabio reportedly sunk in well over N13.6billion into the project, yet the problem has persisted.

Government sources said the state government would need over N50 billion to tackle the IBB Way flood problem

Commissioner for Environment and Petroleum Resources, Ekong Sampson, who toured the affected areas with officials from the Ministry and the Niger Pet Construction Company, including some newsmen, said, “The state government is passionate about this matter, so we are here to see things for ourselves for prompt intervention. Governor Udom Emmanuel has directed that remedial measures be put in place to salvage the situation.”

A resident of Ubara community in Uyo, who simply identified himself as Uko, expressed dismay over government lacklustre approach to the problem, saying that the visits by the government officials were just routines and politically motivated.

“For me, the fact-finding visit of the commissioner and his team to this area did not make any meaning to me because other commissioners have been coming here for the past three years without anything to show for it’’, he said.

Another resident added, “It is not only enough for them to visit without tackling this flood issue, they can’t keep on visiting, making noise everywhere without doing the needful. I think the governor is not serious about this issue of flood, whenever he is ready, he knows what to do simple!”

Recounting her experience, proprietress of Miracle Academy, Mrs. Esther Joseph, said, “Everything in my office was lost as water submerged my table, books on my shelf together with our computers. The keyboards we acquired just this year for about N270, 000 were all soaked and destroyed.

“The worst part of it is that all the books in our library have been destroyed, and as I’m speaking with you, we don’t have a single book in our library. Even the books inside the students’ lockers were all soaked with water, the students were crying when they came to school on Monday having seen the havoc done by a flood. I thank God that no life was lost but only our valuables.”

On the visit of government officials to the area over the flood incident, Mrs. Joseph said, “I thank God for the visit of the commissioner; he has given us hope once again. I must confess that we have attempted to reach out to this government without succeeding. About three years ago, we wrote to the Ministry of Works, the then commissioner came here and gave us hope, but nothing happened. We wrote to the Ministry of Environment the following year, they also came, talked and left, nothing was done.”

“We also wrote to the office of the Deputy Governor, Mr. Moses Ekpo, he sent a team for a fact-finding visit. They came and left and nothing happened for the past two years. So the visit to the commissioner last week is not something new to us, but I hope this time, it will not be business as usual,” she added.

Edo state government, according to reports, has commenced desilting of drainages across several areas in the state, particularly the state capital, to allow the flow of rainwater.

READ ALSO: Tragedy as flood sweeps two, destroys property in Lagos

Vanguard gathered blockage of drainages among other factors have been responsible for cases of flooding in parts of the state capital as it was gathered that the last time this was done was about three years ago.

Areas undergoing this desilting exercise now included Ibiwe Street by Ring Road, Stadium Road, the two service lanes along the Ugbowo Lagos road and several other parts of the state capital.

A legal practitioner staying near the Evbuotubu police station but did not want his name in print said he lost so many vital documents and many of his house facilities.

He asserted, “Myself and my family could not enter the house for three days. My neighbours were just sending me pictures if the flood situation in our compound. I lost many documents, I lost my electronics, my furniture was soaked for days and we have to move to a new location immediately we were able to access the place.”

Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Dame Omua Alonge Oni-Okpaku, noted that the flooding challenge in Benin City metropolis was as a result of a number of factors, including indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drains and water retention ponds.

She called for a change of attitude in waste disposal among residents, noting that the government would build more canals to ensure a free flow of floodwater.

“We have started desilting drains and re-injection ponds at flood flashpoints. This will curb the flooding challenge within the city area. We have seven re-injection ponds within the city centre and we will de-silt them. “We also want residents to understand that they need to clean their gutters and stop dumping refuse in drains,” she added. The Commissioner added that the removal of debris from the re-injection ponds is done once in two years to ensure the ponds were empty to hold water.

vanguard