The Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has warned developers against building on waterways, saying this has been the most identifiable snag sabotaging the government’s strides to tame flooding.
Oyebanji gave the warning in Ado Ekiti, on Sunday, while inspecting some sections of the capital city and suburbs ravaged by flood on Saturday.
Section visited include Osekita area of the Ekiti State University, where some hostels were overrun by water, where he donated food palliatives to students who lost valuable materials to the occurrence.
Addressing the victims, Oyebanji, represented by the Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, urged residents to desist from actions that could sabotage the flood-controlled measures being devised by Governor Biodun Oyebanji-led government.
Oyebanji sympathized with the victims, who are predominantly students, and reminded the residents that indiscriminate blocking of drainages and building of structures on waterways, are sabotaging government’s efforts against flooding.
Expressing grief over the sordid event, Oyebanji said some of the issues causing flooding in Ekiti State can be prevented, but due to laxity on the part of the citizens, who often dropped refuse inside canals , drainages and built across waterways haphazardly.
As part of the preparedness of the government ahead of the rainy season, the governor stated that his government, had been proactive enough, by carrying out dredging and channelisation in flood prone sections of Ado Ekiti and suburbs.
“Let me on behalf of Governor Biodun Oyebanji sympathise with you on this incident. You can all bear witness to the huge investment this government has made to control flooding. As sad as this situation is, we thank God that no life was lost, that is the most important thing to us as a government.
“In the last two years, we have dredged and channelised places like Elemi and Ureje rivers that crossed some parts of Ado Ekiti. We have also channelised the Agric Olope area , where cases of flooding had been reported.
“We are assuring you that the government will come to your rescue. We have been helping victims of flooding, rainstorm and fire incidences. Just recently, the government spent over N58m for the victims of rainstorm and fire disasters, so we will not abandon you in this critical situation”, he promised.
The governor said the officials of National Emergency Management Agency and Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency will visit all the affected areas for proper enumeration and documentation to guide the government on the best way to bring respite to the victims.
The EKSU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Babatola Ayodele, who led the institution’s management team, promised that holistic preventive actions will be taken to avert recurrence of such a situation on campus.
The Scholar said the university will embark on aggressive sensitisation of students against securing hostel accommodations in flood prone areas to avert recurrence of this situation.
Prof Ayodele, who appreciated the fact that nobody died during the incident, however, lamented that the students lost valuables like books , foodstuffs and clothing materials, which he said require relief packages to mitigate their sufferings.
“We received the message around 11pm on Saturday that our students were affected by the flood and we felt so sad about this. We appreciate Governor Oyebanji for this sympathy visit. We need to do some drainages here to checkmate this kind of occurrence.
“We are also working to have habitable hostel accommodations on campus. The management is assuring you that we will step up efforts to ensure that private hostel owners are made to provide facilities in their hostels.
“We are also going to prevent building on waterways and areas that can be affected by flooding. We can’t allow our students to be witnessing this kind of a bad situation. We are happy for this on- the-spot assessment of the situation and the palliatives being provided by the government”.
Applauding the governor for the visit, one of the students residing at HavardHood Hostel ravaged by flood, Adekunle Adeyemi, said the relief materials will go a long way in lessening their sufferings at this critical time.