Residents want more govt efforts to check flooding

Some residents of Yenagoa have appealed to the Bayelsa Government to intensify efforts to check flooding in the state.

The residents made the appeal following two days of heavy rainfall which resulted in flooding in parts of the state.

Farmlands and houses were submerged following the downpour on June 5 and June 6.

The most affected areas included Kpansia, Amarata, Ekeki, and some parts of Ovom community.

Mr Ezekiel Ogbianko, a resident, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday that there was a need for the government to be more vigorous in its sensitisation campaign to avert flood disasters.

Ogbianko, who is the Chairman, Bayelsa Chapter of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, suggested that campaigns should be continuous and more intense, especially in the coastal communities.

“This is because the rural communities will be the most affected when flooding occurs."

“This is the area inhabited by poor farmers; so, government should extend the sensitisation campaign to these places,” Ogbianko said.

Mr Kelvin Peregba, a farmer, who resides in Ovom, Yenagoa Local Government Area, also urged the government to open the drains and link the water channels to rivers.

“The Federal and state governments should intensify efforts in educating the public; let agencies like the go down to the rural communities where the larger population live."

“The effect of the 2012 flood would have been minimal if citizens had been adequately sensitised."

“Campaigns should not focus mainly in the capital city. It should be taken to the markets, schools, churches, public places in the rural communities."

“The people need to know the accurate steps to take to avert the danger before it will come,” Peregba said.

Reacting, Dr Zebekiah Isu, the Chairman of SEMA, said the government would soon hold a stakeholders’ sensitisation programme on flooding.

Isu said the agency had submitted proposals to the Office of the Deputy Governor, retired Rear Admiral Gboribiogha Jonah, and that plans were on for the commencement of the campaigns.