Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
The fear of the forthcoming flood menace this year as warned by the Nigeria Meteorological Society (NiMet) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is making residents of Omoku, the metropolitan town of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, to sleep with one eye open.
Omoku and its environs are among the high flood-prone areas in Rivers State.
TPCN learnt that since NEMA South-South listed ONELGA as one of the LGAs that might experience another flood disaster this year, fear has gripped residents of Omoku – the headquarters – because of what they usually pass through during flooding.
Last year’s experience was terrible, according to some of the victims who regretted that they have not fully recovered from it.
“It has not been easy since last year when flood drove us away from our homes for months. Some of our people were relocated to the camp because they had no place to go to.
Me, I ran to stay with my brother in Port Harcourt. Now they say the flood is coming again this year. What are we going to do?,” Frank, an indigene of Obohia, Omoku, lamented during a chat with TPCN on Sunday in Port Harcourt.
He expressed fears that this year’s flood could be more disastrous because of the heavy rains that have been predicted by NiMet and NEMA and the silence of the Rivers State Government on the issue, calling for urgent action to forestall the coming flood disaster.
“We don’t want a repeat of last year’s experience; God forbid it should happen again this year. But with what I’m seeing, the silence on the part of government and the agencies, I’m really really afraid. Let the state government start planning now before it’s too late, as it happened last year,” he said.
Maria Odufor, another indigene of Omoku, expressed worry that more people will be displaced in Omoku if the flood comes again as predicted.
She begged the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Council to liaise with the Rivers State Government and other relevant agencies to initiate proactive measures to tackle the menace ahead of time.
“Since I first heard it in February that there will be flood again this year, my mind has not been at rest, and likewise my people in Omoku because we know what we’re suffering because of this flood problem.
“Uptill now me and my family are still staying in Port Harcourt because the flood damaged our house. It’s now that we’re trying to repair it. But if this flood is coming again as they’re saying, then something should be done. Let the state government and our local government do something now that it has not come.
“Like, I heard on radio when the NEMA South-South was saying that the states and LGAs should form their own NEMA chapters to manage the situation. This is what I expect our LGA to do, or set up a committee. They can even call those NGOs that were bringing relief materials to our people that time to come and help. It’s not when the flood has already come and spoil things that they will start. Honestly, we’re worried,” she lamented.
TPCN reports that so far, the Rivers State Ministry of Environment has not announced any preventive or intervention measures ahead of the predicted flood while no LGA in the state is known to have established its branch of NEMA as advised by the South-South zonal chapter of the agency.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had revealed that about 314 out of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria will be affected by the envisaged flood disaster this year.
Mustapha Habib Ahmed, the Director General of NEMA, made this revelation during the public presentation of 2023 Climate-Related and Mitigation Strategies, in Abuja recently.
Ahmed said that sequel to the public presentation of the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction.
