The presidency has decried the level of devastation caused by the recent flooding of Trademore estate, Lugbe and other affected areas along the airport in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
TheHintsNews reports that the recent flooding of the estate led to the submerged of 116 houses in the estate.
To this end, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume has directed a comprehensive assessment of the recent flood in Abuja with a comprehensive plan of intervention.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Project Office, Malam Shehu Ibrahim said the assessment tour was to enable the office put up a comprehensive report for the government’s further action.
Ibrahim who stated this during a tour of the affected areas said that the federal government would deploy a holistic approach to tackle the menace of flooding in the Mega-City Estate and its environs.
He explained that while the natural factor is as a result of the rainy season, the human factor was caused by developers who compromise standards as well as residents’ indiscriminate dumping of refuse on water ways.
Ibrahim said: “From our own assessment, what we have seen so far, you can see it’s a consideration of two factors: human and natural factors. It is something that we have to go beyond one agency, so we look at areas we need to come in and intervene and will liaise with other sister agencies like FCDA, FERMA, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Federal Ministry of Environment to see how we can address this issue and avoid future occurrence.”
He pointed out that the assessment tour was part of the federal government’s proactive efforts to hasten the provision of a lasting solution to the flooding in the area, adding, “government cannot sit down and allow things like this to happen”.
Also, the Chairman of Trademore Phase 3, Residents Association, Dr. Adewale Adenike said the flooding was not caused entirely by the Trademore estate as the Estate is a corridor for the flooding which emanates from Lokogoma, Pykassa and other adjoining communities.
While noting that the government might not have envisaged the present magnitude of devastation at the initial stage of designing the estate.
Adenike, however, expressed the hope that it must employ a scientific approach in solving the problem by a proper channelization of all the arteries and tributaries which needed to be widened and deepened.