Flood: Kwara warns residents to relocate from river banks

Residents struggle to rescue people caught in the flood

KWARA State government has warned residents of flood prone areas in the state to relocate for safety of their lives and property, rather than hold on to age long beliefs and misconception on their land.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Monday on prevention of imminent flood disaster in the state, the commissioner for Environment and Forestry, Otunba Taiwo Joseph, said that residents of flood prone areas were unwilling to relocate to designated resettlement places because of their umbilical cord, said to have been buried on their ancestral land.

The commissioner, who said that recent flood incidents in Benue and other neighbouring states was a wake up call to residents of the state, added that warning on relocation among other measures by the government had become pertinent.

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He identified some of the flood prone areas to include Tsaragi, Lafiagi, Shonga, Bacita, Patigi, Gbaradogi, Fangan and Kpata communities in Edu, Moro and Patigi local government areas.

The commissioner, who said that farmers living along riverine areas should relocate to safer locations, added that farming activities should be done with carefulness along river banks until raining season seized.

He also said that silted drainages should be desilted to allow for free flow of water, adding that waste should be properly disposed to designated areas and not to drainages.

He urged residents to desist from indiscriminate dump of refuse in water ways, saying that local government councils and traditional rulers should localise the campaign in their domains.

S-Davies Wande