By Yemi Olakitan
Stakeholders in the environment sector recently convened in Abuja to offer solutions and lessen the effects of impending floods in the nation.
In an interview on Sunday, July 9, 2023, Mr. Michael David, Executive Secretary of the Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEF), mentioned flooding in Nigeria.
According to David, the Federal Government was once again urged by the stakeholders to immediately educate inhabitants of flood-prone states and put in place efficient mitigation measures for such calamities.
“Flooding is a worldwide phenomenon; we must take preventive measures and develop our resilience.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people have returned to these previously flooded places. It seems that we are not doing any preventative
measures; we should probably mop up these areas to let people know they are inhabitable.
David opined that those who break urban and town planning laws ought to face consequences.
As these practises had also been identified as some of the contributing factors to flood disasters, he recommended Nigerians to
refrain from bush burning and tree cutting.
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The executive secretary further urged farmers to adopt irrigated farming, which is a form of climate savvy agriculture.
“We never tyre of promoting the benefits of climate wise agriculture; it is nothing new for our farmers.
“We need to practise irrigation more; the rains are a godsend, and they provide us the chance to build dams, however as
environmentalists, we are opposed to the building of megadams that have an adverse effect on the ecosystem.
Farmers can sow their crops all year long by building little earth dams, he claimed.
In a similar vein, Mr. Osi Braimah, the Director of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), urged people to refrain from carelessly disposing of rubbish, particularly in drains, to prevent floods.
Braimah observed that the issue of plastic trash had grown alarmingly bad on a global scale.
Various plastic wastes have grown endemic in the drainage channels, canals, and waterways.
According to Braimah, this has a huge impact on climate change and causes short-term impacts like erosion and flooding since it obstructs streams and waterways.
