From Femi Mustspha, in Kaduna
Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani has put up mechanisms to mitigate the potential impact of flooding in areas identified by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet,) to ease the fear in citizens.
The Commissioner Of Environment and Natural Resources, Abubakar Buba disclosed this during a sensitization campaign held at the Lagos Garage Mando in Igabi Local Government Area.
According to him, Gov Sani directed the Ministry and other stakeholders to look at all the proactive measures to be taken to avert the flood, and part of it is sensitization, which all the MDAs of the State have started to work on in the past two to three months.
Buba reiterated that the team decided to kick start the Campaign at a center like Mando Motor Park, which is highly populated and the exercise is to clear all the drainage.
He added that the project ‘Distilling Drainage’ is a Kaduna Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (KAD-ACReSAL) supported by the World Bank.
“Since it is the rainy season, we have decided to distill all the drainages within the city center and the three senatorial zones, Kaduna, Kafanchan, and Zaria Metropolis. We are going to distill 160,000 meters of drainage within the City centers of the three senatorial zones.”
“In doing this, we are sure that by the time the rain comes to its peak, it will have a way to flow back into the river which can prevent any likely occurrence in the State.”
“We called on Citizens of Kaduna State to ensure that they cooperate with the Government by coming out to assist, and also stop disposing of garbage in the drainage system and also ensuring that they keep their areas clean and together with the efforts of the Government, it will be a success.”
“All the flood-prone areas have been drainage systems and the only thing is that most of the drainage is blocked. We involve the people in the work we are doing so that at the end of the day, sustainability can be achieved.”
“There’s a monitoring and evaluation team which comprises of all the stakeholders, KEPA, SEMA, and others from the LGA Council and even the traditional rulers and also the youths, men and women of the community will be involved. We are going round to ensure that it is a success and everybody will participate in it”
Speaking earlier, Jibril Dahiru Rufa’i of (KAD-ACReSAL) said the project is World Bank-assisted and aimed at addressing the challenges of land degradation and climate Change in Northern Nigeria on a multi-dimensional scale.
According to him, the ACReSAL Project will help restore 1 million hectares of degraded land in the northern part of the country.
“The Project will also help reduce the vulnerability of millions of extremely poor people in northern Nigeria, strengthening their role in line with achieving environmental sustainability.”
“Today we are participating as key stakeholders in distilling Drainage as proactive measures to flooding.”
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA,) Muhammed Mu’azu Mukaddas said “It would be recalled that for the last six weeks, we’ve been moving around with KEPA and other key Stakeholders, trying to sensitive the citizens on the need to be safe and at the same time, mitigate the flood highlighted areas.”
“I must say with full happiness that the Ministry of Environment under the leadership of the Commissioner, has made this proactive, not just with drainage but informing citizens on the impact and the need to come out fully to support the Government and others by making sure we mitigate the effect of the graded plots.”
“The report is something we have been receiving for almost three years even though we are on a high level one will understand that one of the main agendas is safety.”
“We went out to 738 points in the State with all the Ministries, KEPA, and Ministry of Environment in the State to sensitize citizens living in those flood areas.”
“The Government can only provide Haven Centres so that peradventure we experience any kind of food, we hope these efforts will mitigate the effect.”
“This is to say there is an expectation, but with this kind of proactive measures taken, we are certain that if we continue like this and if the communities come together, and listen to the instructions from concerned agencies, we will be able to mitigate the high level of risk that can attract the flood.”
Similarly, the Managing Director of Kaduna State Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA,) Dr Yakubu Yusuf Arrigasiyyu explained that the target of the operation is to distill all drainage in the state so that there is free flow of water to avoid any blockage that can cause damages to the houses or flooding.
