Benue State government has attributed flooding in the state to blockage of drainages and the inability of the people to heed to early warning messages.
General Manager of the State Urban Development Board (UDB), Dr. Abrahams Saint who disclosed this to newsmen in his office in Makurdi, said government has marked for demolition, over 500 illegal structures built on water channels and under high tension across the state.
Of the number, Gbilekaa said 300 structures would be demolished in Makurdi adding that already, 20 of the structures have been demolished even as he noted that the last demolition exercise was in line with the earlier warning the board gave to defaulters.
Dr. Gbilekaa who lamented that 80 percent of the houses built in the town did not have the approval from the board recalled that on assumption of office, he realised that there were illegal structures that were listed for demolition.
“We investigated to know how true it was and we went as far as serving fresh notices to developers who defaulted. So, the illegal structures I received from handover that were marked for demolition across the state were 500 but the ones we have so far demolished are 20.”