We ‘re ready to tackle flood, Ogun, Kwara, Oyo declare

As the rainy season draws closer, the state governments of Ogun, Kwara and Oyo have expressed their readiness to come up with policies and actions intended to prevent flood in their respective states.

The state governments gave the assurances in separate interviews with newsmen across the three states on Sunday.

In Ogun, the state government said it would continue to take adequate measures to mitigate incidences of flooding to check its negative impacts.

Oresanya listed the measures to include: construction of drainage channels at the appropriate places and clearing of blocked drains.

“Our dredgers are right now working in several areas like Arepo and Obafemi-Owode Local Government area to open up the downstream and to make sure that water that comes from the flood have a way to drain off.

“If you go round the state now, you will see that we are opening all the tertiary and secondary drainages. We are opening them in almost all the local government areas right now.

“We have also embarked on channelisation, by way of river engineering to widen and deepen our rivers to increase their capacities for flow volume at specific sections,” he said.

According to him, the state government, through its advocacy programme, had consistently appealed to citizens on the need to always take precautionary measures to control flooding.

Oresanya mentioned the critical areas in the state as Isheri, Akute, Warewa, Oke-Afa, Owa and Yemule riverbanks in Ijebu-Ode.

“Others are Onihale in Ifo, Ogun Waterside, Ebute-kimobi in Ijebu-East and those living near flood plains of Sokori, Arankanga and Onikoko River in Abeokuta.

“We have also talked to residents of Eruwuru in Sagamu, Ijamode, Isaka and Owode-Yewa in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government areas.

“We have used different platforms, including jingles, seminars and advertisements to urge farmers along the coastal areas and riverbanks to take advantage of the weather outlook and plan the planting and harvesting properly to prevent damages to their crops and livestock,” he said.

The state government, Oresanya said, had also taken steps to improve waste management across the council areas through its Public Private Partnership (PPP).

He said that the ministry had also partnered with chairmen and other leaders of various Community Development Associations (CDAs) to prevent indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drainage channels to avoid blockage.

The commissioner explained further that the state government would continue to monitor water levels of the dams, including the Oyan Dam, to know the appropriate time to open them up in order to prevent flooding.

On Ecological Fund, Oresanya said that the state has not received any ecological fund since the inception of the Dapo Abiodun-led administration in 2019.

He, however, disclosed that the state government officials and members of the Presidential Committee on Flooding recently embarked on a fact-finding visit to some parts of the state prone to flooding.

“We went down to areas where we often experienced disasters in the state during heavy rains.

“We took them round the projects that needed ecological fund and these projects would soon be documented and submitted to the appropriate quarters for appropriate funding. So, we have dialogue going on,” he said.

Meanwhile in Kwara, Prof. Moshood Keke of the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Ilorin, advised both the Federal and State Governments to implement policies and findings for effective control of flooding.

Regretting the destruction of lives and property of past floods, Keke said that effects of flooding were usually severe on national and global economies.

According to him, flooding affects all aspects of human lives, while farmlands were washed away, leading to food shortages, rise in inflation and loss of income, thereby aggravating the existing poverty among the people.

He, therefore, called for the development of lakes for inland waterways navigation to complement the highways.

Keke advised that studies of how climate and global warming affect lakes, fish and fisheries should be intensified.

However, the Kwara Ministry of Environment says sensitisation talks on measures to take in order to prevent annual flood in the state have begun in earnest.

The Director of Environment, Mr Abayomi Idowu, said that residents of some areas prone to flood in the state had been advised to vacate their various homes to prevent havoc.

“Some local government areas like Edu, Patigi, Moro and Barutein, also, some areas within Ilorin metropolis, have been advised to take precautions to avoid falling victims of flood,” Idowu said.

He explained that Woye area of Ilorin experience flood yearly, because of the water flowing from the upper part of Woye, which, usually, disturb residents of the area.

The director, however, said that the Federal Government, through the Ecological Fund, had embarked on the dredging of Asa River, which had reduced the rate of flood crisis.

Idowu further said the dredging exercise was a continuous process, adding that by the time the project would be completed, flood cases would be drastically reduced.

He said that the ministry had also engaged health officers to monitor proper disposal of refuse and clearing of drainage channels, adding anybody found violating the law would be prosecuted.

The director said they had started a quarterly desilting of gutters in major streets, by moving round the areas, inspecting the water channels and clearing them to allow free flow of water.

“We have been to areas like Offa Garage, Gaa-Akanbi, Taiwo Road, Tanke area among others, to clear drainage channels in major roads,” he said.

According to Idowu, the ministry’s plan is to extend the clearing of the drainages to other part of the state, in order to maintain clean and hygienic environment with no risk of flood and other problems.

On Ecological Fund, the state Commissioner for Finance, Mrs Olasumbo Oyeyemi, confirmed that the state government has been utilising the monthly fund from the Federal Government to cater for victims of natural disasters across the 16 local government areas of the state.

Oyeyemi, who did not specify the amount, said that the state government normally received the fund along with the monthly allocation from the Federation Account.

“On a monthly basis, the state government normally spend the fund to cater for ecological-related matters across the state, regardless of the origin or background of the affected persons,” the commissioner said.

She commended the government for the constant release of the fund, which according to her, has been helpful in improving the wellbeing of victims of natural disasters.

In Oyo State, Mr Isiaka Ojuolape, a Director in the state Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, said that the state government was committed to the channelisation of rivers and waterways across the state.

According to Ojuolape, this is in addition to the channelisation of major rivers in Ibadan by the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP).

“Apart from this, the state Ministry of Environment has been sensitising residents of the state against dumping refuse/waste on waterways.

“We do radio and television jingles to intimate the general public on the need to avoid erecting structures on waterways.

“We also admonish people living in areas prone to flooding to vacate,” he said.

Ojuolape said that the state government has been collecting and spending it’s share of the Ecological fund judiciously since the inception of the current administration in 2019.

According to Ojuolape, the state has ecological/environmental challenges in some parts of Oke-Ogun zone and some other areas in Ibadan/Ibarapa zone.

“All these affected areas do receive prompt attention of the government through tree planting to arrest deforestation as well as execution of some projects to curb flooding,” he said.

The flood in 2022 rendered several residents homeless, destroying farm produce, especially rice worth several millions of naira.