Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has called on the Federal Government to be proactive against the perennial flooding in Nigeria by building new dams.
Okowa believes this will help in checking the annual flooding when neighbouring countries open their dams
In addition, Okowa’ urged the FG to desilt major rivers like River Niger and River Benue, to deepen their depths in order to accommodate high volume of flood water.
The governor made the call while addressing newsmen after visiting flood victims at some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state.
“The best way to end the loss of lives and valuables to flooding is for the Federal Government to take proactive steps towards stalling perennial flooding each time neighbouring countries open their dams.
Okowa commiserated with families that lost persons and property to the flood.
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“Five persons died in various communities (not inside internally displaced persons camps) and that was unfortunate,” he said, adding that the state has established 11 holding camps to take care of those displaced by the flood.
To make the camps comfortable, he said that daily feeding of the IDPs was a priority, and that medical facilities and personnel were in various camps to take care of the medical needs of the inmates to avoid possible outbreak of diseases.
“We have 11 camps that are currently in place and some of them are in schools and some others are in high places in some locations where the schools have been overrun by the flood water.
“Climate change is becoming very impactful globally and it is beginning to affect a lot of issues. The sea levels are rising and so is the water level.
“The issue of dams in Cameroon – it always causes a major overflow in our river. From the preliminary information I have, what could be done is to build our own holding dams here in Nigeria and a regular desilting of our rivers.
“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 believe that it is important that the Federal Government will look into it very quickly and begin to start the process,” he stated.
