By Daniel Tyokua
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), through the permanent secretary Olusade Adesola on Saturday, inspected areas prone to flood in the Federal Capital City (FCC) with the aim of curbing the menace.
This followed the recent flood that wrecked havock at Trademore Estate, near Lugbe, where the FCT Administration had declared the area a disaster zone.
Adesola, who was accompanied by key officials of the administration inspected the state of sewer lines and manholes at sensitive locations across the territory.
Fielding questions from journalists after the exercise, the Permanent Secretary also decried the continued vandalism and theft of iron covers for narrow water passage and other flood containment infrastructure on the roads.
He said the ill activities were affecting free flow of water due to blockage of the waterways, which was prone to flood.
Olusade noted that the criminal acts were causing a worrisome development in the Nation’s capital, Abuja.
He said the incessant vandalism and theft of these expensive public infrastructure and their accessories, have become untenable in the FCT, in the wake of the dwindling resources of government and other competing interests.
The perm sec, however sought support of FCT residents by reporting any unusual or suspicious observations to the relevant security agencies for prompt action that will forestall the situation.
Olusade said: “Recently, we undertook a visit to the flood sites of Lokogoma and Trademore, amongst others. The destruction caused by the flood in those areas were really touching. But we knew that equally within the city, there are pockets of flash floods and flooding of some areas due to suboptimal performance of our drainages and we also knew that efforts were made to address these challenges.
“So, as part of efforts to rid the city of flooding, we visited some of the locations where we have had some flooding during this rainy season and to also see the works that we are doing to address them.
“Our assessment has been that to rid the city of flooding is a collective responsibility. The manhole covers that were placed on this particular road, last year, have been removed. They were not removed by ghosts. They were removed by people and this is Federal Capital City where we have all the law enforcement agencies present.
“We want to beckon to every citizen and our law enforcement agencies to support the efforts of the FCTA in protecting lives and properties through the provision of road infrastructure. A lot of resources are committed to replacing these manholes, but not long after they are replaced, they are removed. On this particular road that we are, ductile materials that were thought to be of little or no second-hand value were installed. But shockingly today, all of them have been removed and nobody has been arrested for removing any.
“So, we want to appeal to every citizen; when you see something, report something. We have the number 112 where we can make emergency reports. When something unusual is happening, report it so that our law enforcement agencies can be invited to deal with the situation. This way, we will all be contributing to making the FCT flood-free.”
