Adhere to Strategic, Safety Information to Mitigate Rainy Season Disasters - Ekiti Govt Urges Residents.

Adhere to Strategic, Safety Information to Mitigate Rainy Season Disasters - Ekiti Govt Urges Residents.

 

Ekiti State government on Tuesday urged residents of the state to take collective collective responsibility by adhering to strategic, technical and safety information that would help reduce the impact of flooding and protect vulnerable communities. 

The Commissioner of Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun said this in Ado-Ekiti during the interactive S'etigbo multicast anchored by the Bureau of Community Communications. 

He appealed to residents to remain calm in the wake of the recurring flooding in some parts of the state, promising immediate interventions of Governor Biodun Oyebanji's led administration to ameliorate the situation.

His words: "From the inception of the administration, we set-up a committee to look into the affected flood areas and local governments and the committee came up with reports of some local governments that are well affected. 

"The governor swung into action immediately, put money in all the necessary agencies ahead of the rainy season then and that was about four years ago. We started with excavation of all the waterways across the state. 

"Before now, we have not witnessed very serious erosion, particularly along Iworoko, Poly, Ilawe roads, among others. The activities of the various agencies are on and presently they are working all around Ekiti and most places we all know to be prone to flooding. 

"I know people can say confidently that the present administration has done much but no matter what we have done, the truth is that we have witnessed another flood that has affected the lives of one or two people which is very unfortunate."

According to the commissioner, the state government had embarked on several strategic projects and interventions following a forecast by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, which listed Ekiti as one of the states likely to experience above-normal flooding this year.

"We are not unaware of this because sometimes early in the year, NiMet predicted that there would be heavy rainfall around this time, particularly in Ekiti and other states. What the government did was to intensify more efforts to ensure that we do not witness any heavy rainfall that will obstruct the movement of people not to even affect their lives.

"I want to appeal to the people that as much as the government is working, we want them to know that they should always heed to the strategic, technical and safety information from government and all our media platforms, particularly townships sensitisation and communications from appropriate agencies that is in charge of the climate and environment.

"We are deeply sorry that it has happened again. Maybe because of the impunity of our people and their willingness to dare. I think it is high time we heed to advice when it is given."