Leader Wants FG To Dredge Rivers

An opinion leader, from Okana in  Abua/Odual Local government Area of Rivers State, Mr. Kenoye Ikilighil, has called on the Federal Government to embark on the dredging of major rivers and creeks in the state to ensure the smooth flow of water to avoid flooding of farmlands in 2013.

Mr. Ikilighil, who stated this at his country home over the weekend said one of the major challenges facing the local government area was lack of drainages.

“We lack drainages yet we  have some deers that have openings into the major rivers like Omokwa river, Ogbema river, Okoboh river and a lot of others”, he said.

According to him, there were some small creeks in the area that connect these rivers and during the raining season, water flows freely into some of these communities and overrun farmlands.

He called for the widening of such creeks through opening of drainages from the land to the creeks so that water can move directly to the rivers.

Mr. Ikilighil, a retiree of Elf Nigeria Ltd, while lamenting the hardship farmers in his area were going through from last year’s flooding stressed that if drainages were properly done, flooding to higher ground would reduce.

He explained that over time, creeks in the area have been blocked due to deposits and such creeks were no longer feeding the rivers properly.

He said the likelihood of upland areas being flooded should not be overruled if such creeks were left in their present state.

He said most farmers grow their crops around the river banks in Abua even as he said dredging should be done in such a way that the sand was used in filling the river banks.

He said such arrangement would enable the water flow freely on its natural cause to the ocean.