Okowa tasks FG on more dams to check flooding in Delta

The Governor Ifeanyi Okowa administration has urged the Federal Government to construct more dams to end the perennial dislocations caused by flooding in Delta State.

It, however, attributed the menace majorly to the indiscriminate human activities to the environment.

The Commissioner for Environment, Chris Onogha, told The Guardian in Asaba that though the development was posing a major challenge, he, however, added that the state was tackling it headlong,

He said: “It is true that the environment is actually in a very bad shape, and two reasons are responsible for it, one of which is human factor as we all have very queer attitude about the environment, as we do nothing about protecting the it. Yet, all that we do is to deplete this natural gift from God, instead of doing things that will improve this mother earth.

“We seem to be encouraging indiscriminate dumping of refuse, and sadly, Nigeria is fast becoming the world headquarters of open defecation. You could see people throwing things out of the windows of moving vehicles, and that is because we do not care about the environment.”

The commissioner pointed out that other aspects were those of illegal mining, emphasizing: “Within and behind the Anwai campus of Delta State University, you could see the level of destruction that has been done to the environment. All these are human factors, and we kept on as if destroying the environment is a way of life.”

Onogha, who doubles as chairman of the state task force on environmental sanitation, added: “You will notice that people who destroy the environment are very expert at it, especially those that generate waste at will.

“However, the system that manages waste is where we have a problem. If we must get out of this situation, then we must put a system in place that would outweigh and surmount the level of waste generation. If we do not manage the waste at a higher level, then there will be a problem.”

He said to stem the worrisome development, “the government has put in place a system that will manage the wastes that are generated per second at homes, market places and along the streets.”

The commissioner went on: “The second issue is the natural factor as a result of climate change. The recent flood was due to overflow from River Niger. It started from Miami, USA where the state had its own share of the flooding. Fourteen days later, it was Nigeria’s turn with Kainji and Jebba dams to receive and accommodate the volume of waters that was coming from Miami.”