From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Following warnings by the Federal Government that the 2023 flooding would be massive, residents of Bayelsa State have cried out to the state government to take urgent steps to clear the drainage systems and canals in around the Yenagoa metropolis.
In Azikoro village in Yenagoa some residents while speaking on Wednesday to members of the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists who were on tour around the state capital to see the level of preparedness of government, called on the relevant agencies in charge to clean up the canals especially the ones around Azikoro village from the cemetery area of the state.
Other areas visited include Okutukutu area, Airforce Road, Azikoro Village and Cemetery Road and Swali road.
A resident who identified himself as Lemmy Royal Egede pleaded with the relevant government officials not to wait till the last minute before action is taken to save Bayelsans from undue stress.
Egede said “We suffered in 2022. Last year’s flood really affected us so much here and up till now we didn’t see even one cup of Garri especially in this area we don’t have a major road so they didn’t come here with any palliative.
“We were really impacted but there was no government presence. There was a time that three corpses floated out from the cemetery.
Also speaking, a woman, Mama Blessing disclosed that she was the person that carried one of the corpses back to the cemetery when it floated out during the last flood.
She said “I was the person that carried the dead body back to the cemetery but the government didn’t give us anything. I was swimming through this street to pack my things
“I didn’t see anything from the government. They took the foodstuffs to another street and then when we went there, they even beat us.
Governor Douye Diri had recently inaugurated the flood and erosion control directorate saddled with the responsibility of proffering a lasting solution to the flooding and erosion problem.
Diri had urged members of the committee headed by Omuso D Omuso to write their names in the annals of the history of Bayelsa State by developing sustainable flood management mechanisms.
“You must address the threat of flood and erosion with utmost priority that it deserves, develop sustainable flood management practices, introduce erosion control techniques and design flood resistant structures among other structures that can be adopted to mitigate the risk involved in the very near future,” Diri said.