Follow Us on Google
Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The Director General of Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, Engr. Clement Onyeaso Nze has said over 80 LGAs in 29 states of the federation are currently being ravaged by floods.
He also decried the vandalisation of the organisation’s equipment across the country, calling for concerted efforts in halting the ugly trend. He stated this yesterday while speaking at the national sensitisation workshop on security and prevention of vandalisation of hydrological equipment held at Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
He pointed out that the management of the nation’s rivers and ecosystem is largely dependent on the availability of reliable, accurate and long term hydrological data, derived from hydrological observation stations that are installed at critical locations along the rivers and streams in the country.
He added that rather than expanding the mandate of the agency to provide adequate surface and groundwater monitoring stations across all rivers and all states in the country, the organisation has been moving in circle by replacing the existing stations that were being lost to theft, vandalisation or washed away by floodwaters year in year out.
The director general therefore stressed the need for Nigerians to imbibe attitudinal change so as to effectively protect the environment by assisting in protecting all hydrological equipment and installations with a view to reducing vital losses to flooding and other water related hazards. He further averred that since most of this equipment are not locally available, and require huge financial resources to acquire and put into operation, the country would be saved from monumental socioeconomic loss if we all work collectively to keep them in good shape.
He posited that the workshop could not have come at a better time than now, in view of the challenges of flooding across the country, stressing that efforts must be intensified to secure and protect our hydrological equipment from vandalism, in view of their importance in our national life. He disclosed that 29 out the 36 states in the country have so far been hit with floodwaters this year, adding that 80 local governments have been affected.
