A University Professor, Prince Mmom has urged the Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development may have to take seriously the exercise of sanitizing the streets of Port Harcourt of illegal structures on unapproved sites as part of strategies to mitigate flooding in the sprawling city.
Mmom,a Professor of Geography and Environmental management, while speaking on the topic: Flood risk management and Mitigation, at a symposium, said the Rivers state Waste Management Agency should also wake up from its slumber and deal with the indiscriminate disposal of waste in water ways as it constitute to the cause of flooding in the state..
He said until the Rivers state government takes the implementation of its laws seriously, the state would witness heavier flooding.
On his Part, the South South zonal coordinator of NEMA Godwin Tepikor called on the Rivers state government to create the State Emergency Management Agency in all the local government areas so that the National Agency will work with them in averting flooding and its disasters.
But the Rivers State ministry of environment is insisting that the government has not relented in carrying out sensitization programmes as part of efforts in mitigating flooding in the state.
The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and valuers also vowed to monitor activities of its members so as to help stop flooding in the state.
Our correspondent reports that the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Sea Port promises to continue to show concern over environmental issues in the state.
The Project Service Director of the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Sea Port, Prince Jenewari Eleki said “ we are taking action against environmental issues in our host communities. This project is our club’s star project and we will continue to partner with relevant stakeholders all the time to ensure this flooding menace stops”.
A great effort by Rotary Club of Port Harcourt SeaPort. The first thing to be done is the constant desilting of drainage within the metropolis. All of them are fully clogged with all manner of silt, especially the covered ones, so there is nowhere else for the water to go, except to pour out onto the roads, hence the flooding.