Edo govt decries negative impacts of flooding despite measures

The Edo State Government has claimed that the measures put in place to control the adverse impacts of this year’s flooding have not yielded positive results.

Newspot reports that the State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, expressed the state government’s feelings in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City while reacting to the heavy downpour that affected some buildings like the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Recall that Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman,

Information and Voter Education Committee on Saturday said several machines already configured for the Continuous Voters Registration, CVR, exercise, ahead of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State were destroyed by flood following a torrential rainfall on Friday night.

Olumekun, who disclosed this in a statement said the voter enrollment machines already configured for the forthcoming Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) were affected by the flood.

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The commission listed facilities completely affected by the flood to include, all the offices downstairs of the building and the ICT building, all the cars parked at the premises, office furniture, generators and INEC Voter Enrolment Device, IVED, for the forthcoming CVR.

Nehikhare while sympathising with the people of the State over the impact of the flood across Benin City, noted that the Nigerian Metrological Agency, NIMET, had a few weeks ago warned of heavy flooding from torrential rainfall.

He said, the state government while taking the NIMET warning alert seriously embarked on responsive strategies across the state’s flood management sites, especially retention ponds and other infrastructure to limit the impact of the flooding.

He also added that the government deployed its officials to desilt drains and clear flood pathways in different parts of the state preparatory to the predicted flooding across flood-prone sites and lowland areas across the state.

The Commissioner, however, lamented that despite the measures taken by the government, the heavy downpour which lasted for over 15 hours, stressed various flood flash points in the state, resulting in overflowing of the banks.

He explained that the State’s Command and Control Centre has since been responding to emergency calls from the impact of the incident by dispatching response teams to provide support and emergency care to areas most impacted by the incident.

Nehikhare, who enjoined the public to continue to explore the emergency lines, assured that the state government would sustain efforts to provide the needed support.