Rivers State is drowning in a crisis it has seen before. From Rumuodomaya to Graceland Community in Oyigbo, floodwaters have submerged homes, shut down businesses, and pushed families out of the only shelter they have.
The Eleme Local Government Chairman had also called on the Rivers State Ministry of Special Duties for urgent intervention as a result of the flooding in Eleme. And yet, the response from those in power remains the same
There is a tiring cycle: wait for the rain, count the damage, distribute a few palliatives, and move on, until the next downpour repeats the story. When more communities are being affected by the flood.
In Rumuodomaya, residents say they contributed money for drainage projects years ago. That money vanished into promises, and now their community pays the price every rainy season, with floodwaters rising to waist level and swallowing homes and shops whole.
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In Oyigbo’s Graceland Community, a widow has lost both her home and her livelihood, and now survives on the goodwill of neighbours because what was supposed to be done before disaster struck was not done.
These are not a one-time failure. They are the known results of a state that treats flood prevention as optional.
To their credit, NEMA officials’ early sensitisation efforts and inspection of flooded areas in Eleme on the 21st promised to forward their findings to facilitate necessary intervention.
However, they urged residents to maintain proper sanitation and keep drainage channels free of refuse to reduce future flood risks.
However, community leaders have pointed fingers at the Port Harcourt Ring Road construction for blocking natural drainage channels, a serious allegation that deserves an urgent, transparent investigation, not silence.
But should we point all fingers at the government alone and leave the people who are supposed to do proper sanitation and clean their drainages off the hook? Blame without responsibility is how we keep repeating the same disaster.
If infrastructure meant to develop the state is instead deepening the suffering of the people it claims to serve, that opposition cannot stand without investigation, as the government has a duty.
The government is elected to plan cities, build drainage systems, evacuate waste, enforce sanitation laws, and respond when a crisis hits.
When drainages are not dredged for years, when refuse trucks don’t come, when policies exist only on paper, citizens have every right to demand accountability. A government that fails to provide basic infrastructure cannot escape blame.
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But people also have a duty. No government can station a worker at every street corner to pick up nylon bags. No agency can stop someone from dumping refuse into a drainage at night.
When we sweep dirt from our compounds into the gutter, when we build on water channels, when we ignore community cleanup days, we are actively blocking the very system we complain about. One blocked drain in front of one house can flood an entire street.
A state that keeps repairing only after the damage is done will keep discovering, year after year, that the cost of neglect is always more than the cost of prevention.
Rivers State does not need more emergency response after each flood. It needs a government and a people willing to fix its drainage, monitor its construction projects, and clean drainages alwaysand ahead of the rain falling, not after the water has already taken everything.
