Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Chief Isaac Ishola has enjoined the people of the state to be partners in progress with the government to avert flooding disasters in the city of Ibadan and his environs.
Speaking at a press briefing after a media tour of various intervention sites embarked upon by the government to stop the menace of flooding in the city, the Commissioner said government has proactively embarked on clearing of drain channels and dredging of major rivers in Ibadan and its environs in its effort to mitigate flooding in Ibadan.
“The Government has dredged up to 64 river courses and drain channels this year alone and has rebuilt infrastructure which were destroyed by the 2011 flood in different parts of the city.
These structures erected with the aid of the World Bank assisted Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) have, once and for all, relieved the hitherto flood ravaged areas from incessant flooding and the attendant calamities that came on its tow,” Chief Ishola said.
The Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) has dredged up to 64 river courses and drain channels this year. It has also rebuilt major hydraulic infrastructure which were destroyed by the 2011 flood.
Some of the new bridges and culverts constructed by IUFMP include Ogbere-Pegba, Cele Rainbow, Shasha-Osajin and Ola-Adua.
It is also carrying out civil works on 13 other sites across Ibadan coupled with enlightenment campaigns to discourage indiscriminate dumping of refuse in water channels, building on flood plains and river setbacks and other flood causing behaviours.
Residents who spoke with journalists expressed joy at the flood control measures, profusely thanking the state government and the project handlers.
In a similar development, a visit by journalists to the Eleyele Dam revealed that the project is now in full swing.
Chief Isaac Ishola, who led an inspection team including members of the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) as well as journalists, stated that the expansion of the dam was long overdue, having been untouched since its construction in 1942.
He stated that the ongoing rehabilitation is targeted at averting failure of the dam, “a development whose disastrous aftermaths are better imagined than experienced”
He explained that the project “is targeted at improving the dam’s capacity to hold more water and prevent flooding” observing that “the decrepit state of the Eleyele Dam contributed in no small way to the alarming flooding of 26th August, 2011”.
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
