Peter Obi, the Labour Party's (LP) candidate for the presidency, has provided details on how, if elected in 2023, he would address the flooding catastrophe wreaking havoc on the nation.
Speaking on Arise TV on Monday, Obi said that by forecasting rains and dredging significant rivers to hold the water, the flooding catastrophe may be prevented.
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 the 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 the suspension of his political campaign to visit some states affected by flooding.
He also commiserated with residents of the affected states over the impact of flooding on their communities.
Most of Nigeria is currently battling 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.