Ogun State Government has advised residents along the banks of River Ogun and other flood-prone areas to be prepared to move to safer areas.
This followed a warning by the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) of the likely occurrence of massive flood in some states of the federation.
Commissioner for Environment, Bolaji Oyeleye, in a statement on Wednesday in Abeokuta, noted that Ogun is expected to witness above normal rainfall, which could lead to severe flooding.
“It is in the best interest of residents living in flood prone areas, particularly along the Ogun River, to be ready to move to safer grounds to forestall loss of lives and property,” the official said.
“To mitigate the effect of the predicted flooding, residents are advised to imbibe good environmental practices such as desisting from erecting buildings on flood plains, de-silting drainage channels and to desist from dumping refuse in waterways”.
Oyeleye added that the government remains committed to ensuring that the people of the state have an environment that is safe and conducive for living and for business to thrive.
NIHSA had predicted that there will be flooding in eight major rivers across the country and advised residents living in flood prone areas to relocate.
Director-General of NIHSA, Dr Moses Beckley, spoke at the 2017 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) workshop organised by the agency in Abuja.
He listed the expected areas of flooding as Niger, Benue, Sokoto-Rima, Anambra-Imo, Cross River, Niger Delta, Komadougu-Yobe, Ogun-Osun and several other sub-basins of the country.
“This outlook forecast is to get the people aware, enlightened, so that they can prepare effectively for what to likely expect from flood incident.”
“We in the agency advise those living in these areas to relocate to safety regions having the knowledge of hydrological hazard which floods have caused in previous years in the country, “ he said.
Beckley, however, explained that areas to be affected by flood in 2017 were expected to be lower than that of 2016.
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