The federal government has stated that it is prepared to stop nationwide flooding like the one that occurred in 2022.
On Thursday, immediately after paying a special visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, Managing Director of Nigeria Inland Waterways (NIWA), George Moghalu, offered this guarantee in a statement to newsmen.
He gave the assurance that NIWA was making every effort to stop a recurrence of the catastrophic flooding that devastated the nation last year.
While acknowledging difficulties, Moghalu stated that the agency was making every effort to keep the nation’s rivers passable throughout the year.
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According to him: “So what we started doing proactively was, first of all, to start aspects of sensitization, getting people to understand because we have a department in our office that monitors flood flow, looking at the floodplain and gives us a report on a monthly basis or bi-weekly basis, to my office and then the department that is responsible will now develop the data, which we’ll now use to sensitize the people, keep them informed of the possible flood-prone areas so that people will have to leave those locations.”
He added further that the agency has since commenced the clearance of blocked water channels hyacinth and wrecks within the limit of its resources.
Speaking on the removal of wrecks along the waterways, Moghalu said, “wrecks, even floating debris are all being removed at various locations across the entire country. As we identify them, we do the basic survey and once we identify them, we set the process in motion to remove them.
According to him, discussions were ongoing for the concession of Baro port and as well as the Oguta and Lokoja ports that are still under construction in order to reduce pressure from the government.
His words: “For Onitsha river port, we have successfully concessioned and handed over to universal Elysium, it is a company that is partnering with Port of Antwerp for the next 30 years.
Story adapted from ThisDay
