From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has urged the Federal Government to urgently dredge Rivers Benue and Katsina-Ala to tackle the perennial flooding in the country.
The Governor gave the charge, on Monday, when he received the Presidential Committee on Flood and Disaster Management, led by Prof. Emmanuel Adanu and his delegation on a courtesy visit to Government House, in Makurdi.
Governor Ortom commended the Federal Government for setting up the committee with renowned professionals for the management of flood disasters in the country, saying it was a step in the right direction.
He emphasised that “for us in Benue state, the greatest mileage to mitigate the flood disaster will be to dredge Rivers Benue and Katsina-Ala. As long as the river is not dredged, we will continue to have this problem.”
The Governor recalled that he was aware that the Government of late President Musa Yar’Adua awarded a contract for the dredging of River Benue, stating that the contractor did not execute the job and its status must be investigated.
While commending the initiative of ecological funds, the Governor appealed to the Federal Government to do more to tackle ecological problems.
He urged the Presidential Committee on Flood and Disaster Management to do its best on the assignment, stressing that “if there are findings and you want to advise the state, we are ready to work with you.”
He particularly requested the Federal Government through the Committee to offer incentives to farmers who lost their farms as a result of last year’s flood disaster which ravaged the state and other parts of the country.
The Governor congratulated the Chairman of the Committee, who is a Benue son, on his appointment and thanked the President for giving him the opportunity to serve in that capacity.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Flood Disaster Management, Prof Adanu, informed the Governor that they were in the state as a technical working group to assess the damage caused by the recent flooding which ravaged the country including Benue state.
Adanu said the committee has the mandate to interact with stakeholders with a view to developing a master plan for the prevention of the flood disaster which was becoming a perennial occurrence.
He pointed out that Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi states were flood tracks and Benue State will be particularly studied and captured appropriately in the report of the Committee with the target to “put economic value to flood control, management and reorganisation.”