Ondo State Governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has warned residents of the state against involving in acts that could cause floods, particularly dumping of wastes in drainages.
The warning comes after a flood occurred in Ondo town on Friday, destroying properties worth billions of naira in areas including Itanla, Oka, Odo Ijomu, Bethlehem, Akure-Ondo Expressway, and Ife Road among others.
Aiyedatiwa visited and inspected some of the affected areas on Sunday, according to a statement issued by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Ebenezer Adeniyan.
The governor urged residents to avoid practices that contributed to flooding, such as blocking drainage channels with waste.
Expressing his concern over the impact of the flood on the community, Aiyedatiwa assured the residents that his administration was committed to finding long-term solutions to prevent future occurrence of such.
“We are deeply concerned about the challenges these floods have caused, and we are already working to ensure that affected areas receive immediate relief and long-term solutions.
“I also want to appeal to you my people to desist from acts that could lead to flooding such as blocking the drainage channels with wastes.
“When the drainages are blocked, water won’t be able to flow freely and this will lead to flooding. This is not good for our environment, let us stop it.”
An environment expert, Dr Abiola Bashorun, has advised the state government to take drastic measures to avert future occurrence of flood in the state.
Bashorun blamed the state government, particularly the state Ministry of Environment, for not being proactive enough to prevent flooding in the state after the Nigerian Meteorological Agency had earlier predicted that some states would experience floods this year.
She said: “I would like to commiserate with the people of Ondo city over the unfortunate flash floods that ravaged the city on Friday leading to destruction of properties and other losses.
“While we acknowledge the fact that flooding is a natural disaster that is more preventable than controlled, I feel that the response to distress alarms sounded by NIMET and other weather monitoring agencies in Nigeria to states was not well heeded by the Ondo State Ministry of Environment.
“Please remember that there was an incident at Ore last year and considering the proximity of Ore and Ondo, there were supposed to be proactive steps taken to avert a spill of the same incident to Ondo that has now happened.
“Since that incident, nothing was being done.
“It goes without saying that the recent flooding in Ondo City is enough proof that the Ministry of Environment has been ineffective in the handling of its core objectives.
“One would expect that the channelisation of the connecting channels in Ondo such as Fagun, Itanla among others should have been decongested of waste and debris long before now.”
However, the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Oyeniyi Oseni, said the government was being proactive as it had taken some steps in collaboration with some stakeholders to tackle the problem.
The statement read: “The Ministry of Environment was aware of the Nigerian Metrological Agency’s prediction of imminent flooding in some parts of the country this year, and immediately came up with some active strategies to avert such in the state.
“The ministry immediately organised a well-attended stakeholders meeting in May 2024 to sensitise all stakeholders to review strategies to combat flooding.
“The ministry also collaborated with other relevant MDAs including the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Ministry of Physical Planning and the Ministry of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs that coordinated the desilting of some drainages in 18 local governments.”
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