A high-powered delegation from the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Abuja headquarters, visited Anambra State over the weekend as part of its nationwide flood sensitization and evaluation program in all flood-prone states, local governments, and communities across the country.
The delegation led by the NOA Director-General, Mallam Lanre Issa Onillu, visited Ayamelum, Anambra East, Anambra West, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Ogbaru, Idemili North, and Ekwulsigo local government areas for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.
Speaking with newsmen at Ohita Community in Ogbaru local government, Mallam Onillu said the essence of the visit was to inform dwellers along the flood plains that the water level of the river Niger and Benue is expected to rise following the release of the Lagdo Dam water earlier this month by the Cameroonian authority.
Mallam Onillu, represented by the Director of Planning, Research, and Strategy (PRS), NOA Headquarters, Abuja, Alhaji Nuru Yusuf Kobi, said the increase in the water level would lead to flooding. Hence, the people living within the riverine communities across the country should be prepared.
The NOA DG said the campaign is to prevent such losses, recalling how, in 2012 and 2022, Nigeria lost 600,000 people to flooding while over 10,000 houses were submerged.
He urged those living in the riverine areas to move to high lands where they would be safe, as, according to him, the government did not want the country to incur any losses from the flood this time.
“We are coming from Lokoja, Delta, Benin City, and now in Anambra state, and we would continue from Anambra state to Benue and Nassarawa states.
“This sensitization campaign is also going on in Cross-River, Rivers, and Adamawa states, and the idea is to get the people to be in a state of preparedness in case there is flooding,” he said.
The Anambra State NOA Director, Mr. Edozie Ajaegbu, informed the visiting team that his directorate’s Community Orientation and Mobilization Officers, COMOs, were already on the ground in every local government area of Anambra state daily, sensitizing and mobilizing the people on the inherent dangers of the impending flood.
Mr. Ajaegbu noted that floods had become a regular occurrence in the country. He emphasized that the COMOs had previously been educating the people living within riverine communities across the state to relocate to the uplands whenever a flood occurs.
Also, Chief Emma Obi, the President-General of the Ohita Community, noted that although they have witnessed flooding all these years, it is now becoming intense.
Describing the issue as a major challenge for the dwellers, Obi, who is also the leader of all Presidents-General in the Ogbaru local government area, said what they were asking the government to do for them was to see how they could stop the flood or bring a permanent solution to it.
According to him, no amount of government palliative would be enough to solve the area’s flooding problems.
“All we are asking is for a permanent solution to the negative impacts of flooding in all flood-prone communities in Anambra state and beyond. This could be in the form of constructing dams, constructing embarkments on the bank of the river Niger or initiating other favourable policies that could solve the problem of the holocaust indefinitely,” he said.
