Following the successful conclusion of a two-day Riverside Resilience workshop, aimed at unveiling Anambra’s flood-resilient building traditions, the Anambra State Physical Planning Board, ANSPPB in conjunction with Heinrich Böll (a German NGO) and ADD.apt (an urban planning Architectural firm), on Wednesday, embarked on a field visit to select coastal communities in Anambra East and West Local Government Areas.
The two-day workshop held in Awka attracted key stakeholders to develop initiatives aimed at exploring methodologies to pair indigenous knowledge with innovative solutions that ensure the environmental preservation of traditional architecture to build flood-resilient communities in flood-prone areas.
The target was to find ways to develop structures in the flood-prone communities that will contain and protect residents during the flood, and reduce the need to move persons to shelters whenever flooding happens.
The field visit became imperative to gain a better appreciation of the subject matter of the workshop, commencing the implementation of the resolutions reached at the workshop.
The communities visited include Umueze Anam, Mmiata Anam, and Nzam, in Anambra West LGA and Umueri in Anambra East LGA.
Speaking on the essence of the visit, the Chairman, Anambra State Physical Planning Board, Barrister Chike Maduekwe explained that it is to fashion out ways to mitigate flooding in coastal communities in Anambra state to avoid flood disasters.
“Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration is deliberate about building a wholesome liveable and prosperous state, which is why it is already collaborating with United Nations Development Partners, UNDP, to develop a flood resilient plan for the state.
“This visit will help the state government learn from the communities, especially as it concerns the traditional methods the communities are deploying to resist flood.
“The road map we are developing would ensure structures that will be more cost-effective and sustainable because Anambra has a twin challenge of flooding and erosion,” he said.
The Traditional Ruler of Umueri, Igwe Ben Emeka stressed that anything that affects Anambra West, affects the East, especially Umueri people in the river bank, because the same river Omambala divides them, just as the Traditional ruler of Nzam, Igwe John Ogugua recalled that their fore-fathers saw and survived high-level flooding which stopped with the construction of Kainji Dam, until the recent climate changes, suggesting that government should help by building resilient structures across the coastal communities, though they may be expensive.
Eve Nnaji of ADD.apt, a German urban planning and Architectural Firm, noted that they are experts in gathering environmental data, saying that part of their major aspiration is to build environmental consciousness and intelligence.
She pointed out that they have been able to pinpoint from the field visit that it is really about people’s safety and not about pushing the flood away.
“The environment is the first line of protection, and enhancing the environment with the proper vegetation and the proper ecology will help the flood-affected people of the state, as against moving them,” she said.
The Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Community Affairs, Mr Tony-Collins Nawbunwanne who hails from Anambra West described the initiative as laudable as it ties to Governor Soludo’s urban regeneration agenda and harped on the need for proper education especially for those who are yet to build houses.
Mr Nwabunwanne stressed that part of what is needed is total compliance with the directives and recommendations of the state Physical Planning Board.
The Managing Director of Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, Mr. Mark Okoye, and the Executive Director of Social and Integral Development Centre, Ugochi Agalaba-Ehiahuruike, among others who were part of the visit, revealed that the visit will engender new ways of doing things in the coastal areas, just as is obtainable in other countries of the world.
