Ex-Adviser Wants Stakeholders Meeting For Farmers

The Rivers State Government has been called upon to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), to enable it assess the extent of damage caused by flooding to farmers in the state.

A former Economic Adviser to the Rivers State government, Mr. Isaac Okemini who gave the charge in an exclusive interview with our special correspondent in Port Harcourt at the occasion of the last quarter/end of year re-union assembly of County Grammar School Ikwerre Etche Class ’76 recently said it was wrong to blame the government on the handling of the consequences of the flood.

He said it was impossible to prepare for something that has not happened before.

He said now that it has happened, the government could be blamed if in the future, proactive measures was not taken as a lesson has been learned.

“First you must understand that what happened with this flood was an unusual situation that never happened before and to expect anything more from the state would be more like expecting a miracle”, he said.

He said it was necessary at this time to look at the potentials for further flooding and what the state could do to avert or reduce the effect of any other flood in the future.

He advocated for government to dialogue and convenes a stakeholders meeting with farmers in the state to chart a way forward. “There is nothing you can do without an input from the local farmers” he said.

Okemini, who was also the former Chief Executive Officer of Risonpalm Limited, said the government should look at the kind of data it has about the lowland areas of the state to enable it plan to reduce environmental impact in terms of seasonal changes in weather patterns.

He explained that the government has advantage in meeting the challenge of cushioning the effects of the flood to farmers in the state because Risonpalm was being reactivated and the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency RSSDA was firmly rooted.

“I think they are reactivating Risonpalm and they have the RSSDA that is involved in agriculture”, he said.