Dredge River Benue Now to Avoid Flooding, Ortom Tells FG

George Okoh in Makurdi

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has advised the federal government to urgently dredge the Rivers Benue and the Katsina-Ala to address the perennial flooding in the country.

The governor gave the recommendation yesterday, when he received the Presidential Committee on Flood and Disaster Management, Prof. Emmanuel Adanu, who led the delegation on a courtesy call to the governor in Makurdi.

Ortom commended the federal government for setting up the committee with renowned professionals for the management of flood disasters in the country, noting that it was a step in the right direction.

He emphasised that, “for us in Benue State, the greatest mileage to mitigate the flood disaster will be to dredge Rivers Benue and Katsina-Ala. As long as the river is not dredged, we will continue to have this problem.”

Ortom recalled that he was aware that the government of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had awarded a contract for the dredging of River Benue, stating that the contractor did not execute the job and its status must be investigated.

While commending the federal government for the initiative of ecological funds, the governor appealed to the federal government to do more to tackle ecological problems.

He urged the Presidential Committee on Flood and Disaster Management to do its best on the assignment, stressing that “if there are findings and you want to advise the state, we are ready to work with you.”

He particularly requested the federal government through the Committee to offer incentives to farmers who lost their farms as result of last year’s flood disaster which ravaged the state and other parts of the country.

The Governor used the moment to congratulate the Chairman of the committee who is a Benue son on his appointment and thanked the president for giving him the opportunity to serve in that capacity.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Flood Disaster Management, Prof. Adanu informed the governor that they were in the state as a technical working group to assess the damage caused by the recent flooding which ravaged the country including Benue State.

According to him, the mandate of the committee was to interact with stakeholders with a view to developing a masterplan for the prevention of the flood disaster which was becoming a perennial occurrence.

He pointed out that Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi and States were flood track, saying Benue State would be particularly studied and captured appropriately in the report of the Committee, adding that the target was to, “put economic value to flood control, management and reorganisation.”