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From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Venue state government has raised the alarm that Makurdi, the state capital, is under flood threat except something is urgently done to address the situation.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Dr. Godwin Oyiwona who raised the alarm after an inspection of flooded areas within the state capital expressed displeasure that some residents are in the habit of dumping refuse in water channels saying in addition to global climate change, they were also contributing largely to the flood situation in the state.
He noted that as at Sunday evening, the flood gauge in the state rose to 9.5 meters which, according to him, is an indication that puts Makurdi under flood threat.
“In 2012, the river over flew it’s banks when the level rose to 12m on the guage. As at 6.00pm last night, Sunday, the flood rose to a level of 9.5m on the seasonal flood guage on river Benue.
Oyiwona stated that the state government will amend its sanitation law to make provision for more punitive punishment for offenders as part of measures to mitigate the impact of emerging devastating flood in Makurdi and its environs.
He added that the law, when amended, would create room for jail sentence or ensure that anyone caught disposing wastes in a drainage is liable to pay substantial amount as fine.
“Thi ministry will liaise with that of Lands and the state Urban Development Board with a view to addressing cases of indiscriminate building on water channels.
“But in the interim, the ministry will continue to clean up major drainages within the metropolis in addition to educating residents on basic environmental sanitation.
“The State Ministry of Water Resources and Environment will continue to distil canals and discourage Benue people from dumping refuse on drainage channels while Urban Development Board is keen on demolishing illegal structures built on waterways.”
Our correspondent observed that most drainages in the state capital, particularly, around High-Level, Wurukum, David Mark bye-pass, Wadata, Gboko and Otukpo highways were dotted with refuse due to indiscriminate refuse dumping during the rains.
It was also observed that most houses and farmlands were flooded as a result of heavy rain fall.
