The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has expressed sadness over the recent flooding in some communities in the state.
It said its governorship candidate, Tonye Cole will unveil plan for a statewide canal and reservoir network to eliminate flooding problem in the state.
A statement by the Spokesperson of the Tonye Cole/Innocent Barikor Campaign Council, Sogbeye Eli, on Friday, said the Council is deeply concerned about the hard living conditions of Rivers people particularly the “flood ravaged areas of Ahoada West, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni and Abua/Odual LGAs.”
According to the statement, “Within the last four years, Arch. Tonye Patrick Cole has supported the impacted communities in Odual and other areas devastated by this perennial flooding. We shall yet intervene again in the provisions of relief materials to bring immediate comfort to our people and commend those who have done something already. We thank those volunteering humanitarian efforts to ameliorate the suffering of our people.
“Unfortunately however, flood relief materials for 50 years and counting have come but flooding has not stopped. Flood relief cannot replace 10% of what is lost in lives and property. As an incoming Administration, the Rivers State Government under Tonye Cole/Innocent Barikor shall declare a state of emergency on the environment to introduce reforms to deal with the menace.
“Our focus is on building dykes and canalization across the State to re-channel water and reduce flooding by 80 to 90% over the next five years. This will be the largest channelling project in Africa. We have seen this work in the Netherlands which shares the character of our deltaic environment. The interventions we have studied there can work here with the application of the right political will.
“It is disheartening and highly irresponsible for the Government of Rivers State to ignore and disregard the timely warnings from both the Nigeria Hydrological Services (NIHSA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet). We recall, for instance, that the Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, wrote to the Governor as far back as January to warn on the devastating floods of 2022. The NiMET went further to provide intervention measures to avert this disaster. Unfortunately, Wike was more interested in the politics of being President and actualisation of his third term agenda via imposing his surrogate on Rivers State in 2023 than take the prescribed steps. If Wike had demonstrated the political will necessary by executing the preemptive measures proffered by the Federal agencies, the dangers our people are exposed to now with these floods would have been averted. His N1 billion donation to the people in the impacted areas is Greek gift therefore when compared with previous donations of N500 million to fire disaster victims in Sokoto; another hundreds of millions to Benue and N600 million to Akwa Ibom States.
“Our State needs smart and proactive measures to tackle her challenges; not knee-jerk reactions with the hope of gaining political mileage. Thus, our approach is not only to control flooding and end the perennial threat to lives, properties and livelihoods; it will improve aquaculture and help our people make money from the management of the water bodies around us. We can and urge our people to keep faith with us at the March 2023 governorship elections.”
