Flooding: Ortom Tasks Benue NASS Members to Lobby for River Benue Dredging

George Kajo, Makurdi 

Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom has decried the effect of flooding that has displaced hundreds of people with the death of many in the current rainy season.

The Governor said this while inspecting some affected areas including Wadata rice mill, Angwan Jukum at Wurukum, Benue Links park and Kucha Utebe along Gboko road where floodwater is yet to recede from.

Ortom appealed to members of the national assembly from Benue state to lobby for the dredging of river Benue so as to find a permanent solution.

He said the former President Umar Musa Yar’adua had awarded a contract for the dredging of river Benue but since his demise, successive regimes have turned off their faces from the contract.

He said there is indication that the torrential rainfall will wreak havoc which appears to go more than the 2012 episode and sympathized with those who lost their loved ones and property in the current flooding wave.

While pledging assistance to cushion the effect of flooding, the governor advised those residing in water prone areas to relocate to upper lands and be careful when returning back to their abode as water comes with snakes and other dangerous animals.

He assured his administration will do everything within the available resources to curtail the menace of flooding and called on the federal government to do the needful.

Investigation reveals that many lives have been lost in the flooding while farm lands, and houses have also been destroyed with Agatu local government area suffering greater loss.

The Executive Secretary of Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr Emmenthal Shior, who earlier briefed the media on the current situation, acknowledged the efforts of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and other partners in supporting the affected communities.

NEMA last week donated one water purification machine to the state as a way of checking water related diseases that come with flooding.

One of the victims, Mr John Gbatar of Achusa village, appealed to the government to allocate alternative land to them to vacate where they are currently residing rather than have make shift arrangements.