The Federal Government and its agencies, as well as those from Ogun State, that are assessing the flood situation caused by the release of water from the Oyan Dam are not considering construction of more dams in the affected areas.
It was gathered that a team comprising officials from the Federal Ministry of Environment, National Emergency Management Agency, Julius Berger, among others, had been assessing the affected areas for more than one week.
The NEMA Coordinator, South-West, Lugard Slaku, told our correspondent on Tuesday that instead of constructing dams, the team stated that buildings erected on waterways might have to give way.
When asked if the team had considered constructing more dams in the area to check the floods, Slaku replied, “No, they didn’t bring up the issue of building more dams. But they believe that there are places where buildings block the flow of water and if those structures are cleared, water will pass normally.
“And if there is any other issue, then we still start thinking of dams. But right now, there is nothing about the construction of dams yet.”
He added, “NEMA went there with all other stakeholders, including Julius Berger, Federal Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning Commission, everyone that has one thing or the other to offer, was there.
“And we discovered that one of the areas that was reserved as a green area and was not meant for buildings now has houses on it. We also discovered that even the construction of the road is part of the problem.
“One side of the road is lower than the other, even though Julius Berger is trying to say it is no problem. So it is a complex thing.”
The NEMA coordinator told our correspondent that more assessment would be conducted and promised to provide additional information about the development.
This came as the Federal Ministry of Environment said it had installed automated Flood Early Warning Systems to detect the release of water from the Oyan River in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as well as in the Ogun River at Eruwa in Oyo State.
It, therefore, stated that to avert the devastation caused by floods, state ministries of environment should always monitor the flood alert systems of the Federal Government.
Senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Environment told our correspondent in Abuja that aside from the FEWS systems, the Federal Government through the FMEV, had embarked on sensitisation programmes in the communities that were recently devastated by floods from the Oyan Dam.
Last week, The PUNCH reported that the recent release of water from the Oyan Dam plunged residents of some communities in Lagos into untold hardship as their houses, shops and places of worship were submerged.
When contacted to tell whether the Federal Ministry of Water Resources would construct dams in the area to curb the flooding caused by the Oyan River, the spokesperson for FMWR, Kenn Offie, did not answer calls made to her mobile phone.Punc
