Director-general of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), George Moghalu, has said the agency is taking proactive measures to open up blocked channels to avoid the unprecedented flood experienced across the country last year.
Moghalu disclosed this to State House correspondents yesterday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
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According to him, the agency is carrying out massive sensitisation at flood-prone areas as efforts are ongoing to ensure that rivers Niger and Benue are made navigable for vessels to have access to other ports being developed.
He said, “Yes, I agree with you that the challenge is there. Proactively, what we are doing is to first of all sensitise the people, identify the critical areas and get people to know what will happen with time.
“With regards to clearing, yes, water hyacinths are being cleared on a regular basis, wrecks are removed, channels that are blocked, we do everything we can, within the limits of our resources to open up those channels so that we can have easy flow of water during this period.
“Yes, I said earlier that wrecks, even floating debris are all being removed at various locations across the entire country, as we identify them, we do the basic survey and once we identify them, we set the process in motion to remove them.
“We’re doing some now as we keep identifying them, and you know these things like water hyacinth, like wrecks, like floating debris, are not fixed items that you will say ‘I will remove now and it won’t be there again. You can remove a wreck tomorrow and by next tomorrow, another wreck will come.
“What are these wrecks? Broken down vessels that are condemned, logs and what have you. So, as we identify them, using survey, identify the coordinates, the next thing we do is to set in motion the process of removing them.
“As we speak, procurement processes have been concluded and some are being removed while as we identify, we set in motion the process of removing. We see them as a challenge and we are attacking them. It will be recalled that in 2022, Nigeria experienced what was described as the worst flood disaster in a decade as over 1.4 million people were displaced, over 603 persons were killed, and about 82,035 houses were damaged.