Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) Presidential candidate, has provided details on how he intends to address the country’s flooding crisis if elected President in 2023.
Speaking on Arise Television on Monday, Obi noted that the flooding crisis could be avoided by predicting the calculation of rainfall and dredging major rivers to hold the water.
He said, “What will I do to curb this flooding? There’s a combination of things that I need to do. There is the issue of Lagdo dam but even the minister said the rainfall caused the flooding and not the dam. But if you take the average rainfall in the past 20 years — since 2001 — it remains the same, which means it is predictable.
“But the issue is that we have refused to dredge some rivers. We need to dredge the River Benue and Niger from Baro, Niger state down to the Atlantic Ocean. But there’s currently no ability to hold this drainage, and tributaries are also part of what is causing this problem. The rivers are no longer contributing to our economic growth as they should be.
“These are the things we should do to be able to contain this,” he said.
Recall that Obi had announced suspension of his political campaign to visit some some states the affected by flooding.
He also commiserated with residents the affected states over the impact of flooding on their communities.
Most part of Nigeria is currently battling with flooding, with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) saying 34 out of the 36 states have been affected and 1.3 million people displaced.
Over 600 people have reportedly lost their lives, and more than 200,000 houses have either been partially or fully damaged.