From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal government, on Wednesday, stated that it would only be able to assess the extent of the damage caused by the present flooding on the public infrastructure, when the water recedes, noting however, that it had already begun to notice delays in logistics flow.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, stated this while addressing State House Correspondents after the week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Fashola, while responding to a question on how much damage could have been done to the roads by the reason of flooding and the attendant logistics movements and travels, said it still remain difficult to measure the level of damage, until the waters must have finally receded.
The question followed recent developments in some parts of the country where major interstate roads have either been taken over by flood or have caused damages to infrastructure, including bridges and road collapses.
“At this stage, it’s difficult to quantify the damage to the roads, the only thing that is clearly visible at this time, and that’s because the flood is still receding. So it’s when all of that is gone that we can really see how much damage has been done. The impact is that just like in any situation of extreme weather condition, travel logistics are hampered, so some of the roads are difficult to traverse.
“It has caused some backlog in logistic movements, we are already seeing some disruptions in supply chain, like fuel and some other things, but we hope that when the water fully recedes, we will see the full extent of damage. But we are already planning our Ember-months movement, which we do in the last quarter of the year.
“So that will take into consideration any damage that has been done and we’ll try and remedy as much of it as resources and time allow us, so that we prepare for that heavy movement period during the festive period”, Fashola said.