By Daniel Tyokua
Four months after diversion of a road slip at Galadima interchange, the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has unblocked the road.
The diversion was done to ensure safety of lives and property during the rainy season.
Acting Director, Forecasting, Response and Mitigation of the agency, Mrs. Florence Wenegieme, at the reopening of the road, explained that the mitigative measure had saved lives and properties of the Abuja residents.
She said that the agency decided to unblock the road after the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) predicted that the rains within the FCT were heavy.
Wenegieme, however, said that it was just a prediction by NiMET, adding that residents should not assume that the agency said that it would no longer rain again this year.
”You will recall some years back we always had serious flooding at this location and we lost several lives here.
“That is why since 2020, we decided to be blocking this road every year during the raining season, especially when the rains become very heavy.
”So, today we are here to unblock the slip road from Games Village heading towards Galadimawa Interchange popularly known as Galadimawa Roundabout.
”The road was blocked for the past four months because of the terrestrial rainfall that occured this year. After the raining season, it is right to unblock the road. And because of this singular mitigative measures that we took, we did not loss a single life at this location this year,” she said.
Wenegieme said that besides blocking the road, the agency put additional mitigative measures all over the FCT to ensure that the safety of lives and properties.
She said the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, gave directive to the agency to ensure that all obstructions on waterways were removed.
”These were part of the mitigative measures put in place by the FEMA.
“That is why for the past three years, we did not record a single loss of life especially this year nothing happened at this location and other flood-prone locations in the territory,”she said.
She led a team of the agency officials, local divers volunteers and vanguards to open another road which was barricaded by the agency at the peak of raining season in Dogon Gada at Lokogoma District.
The director used the medium to called on FCT residents to be safety conscious as the dry season sets in.
Responding, the Community Head of Dogo – Gada, Mr Kanpani Irimiya, thanked the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the agency for the preventive measures put in place to save lives and properties in the area.
