Environment
Flood Ravages Rumuigbo Community …Vehicles, Motorists Trapped
Some vehicles coming from the East-West road were last Thursday trapped in a surging flood water along the Owoloma and Obi Wali Road in Rumuigbo Community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The flood caused by a heavy downpour in the area, also resulted to heavy gridlock in most of the roads in the community and Ikwerre road.
Eyewitness account told The Tide that the gridlock stretched from the Rumuokoro flyover to Rumuokuta junction.
It said that the situation led to the diversion of some vehicles to Rukpokwu through the SARS road.
An indigene of Rumuodomaya, Mr Gray Orji whose vehicle was trapped in the flood told The Tide that he spent more than three hours trying to navigate his way out of the community but to no avail owing to the heavy traffic caused by the flood.
Orji described the flood as very terrible, saying that something needed to be done to create access for water to flow out during heavy rains in the area.
“I feel that the drainage is not wide enough for water to flow out. Besides, some of the traders should also be blamed for always dumping refuse into the drainage”.
He urged the government to look into the drainage problem of the community as most residents are passing through difficulties as a result of perennial rainfalls and flooding.
Also speaking, a shop owner, Lady Lydia Tete said most shop owners usually lock up their shops during rainfalls.
“But today, Nkpolu done tie wrapper. I never see this kind of flooding before”, she said in pidgin English.
Lydia called on both the state and federal governments to come to the aid of Nkpolu residents by expanding the roads and widening the gutters.
“I dey call on government to help us build this road because we dey suffer too much on this road”, she said.
Another resident who spoke from the comfort of his home, said “every little rain fall here is a problem, let government come to our aid, we want government to do this road for us”.
The Tide correspondent who was also trapped in the incident reported that even officials of Setraco, the company working on the bad portion of Nkpolu road could not pass despite number of soilders that accompanied them.
By: John Bibor
President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mrs Margaret Oguntala, has inaugurated the construction of 18 units residential terrace in highbrow Alausa area of Lagos toward bridging the nation’s shelter gap.
Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation has launched the 1GOV Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) to enhance digital governance and improve service delivery.
The launch, held on Thursday in Abuja, marks the ministry’s transition from paper-based operations to a smart, integrated and technology-driven work environment.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, said the deployment aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Utsev said the system would improve data management, streamline workflows and strengthen transparency and accountability across the ministry.
According to him, the ECMS will enhance productivity, preserve institutional memory and reduce operational costs in the ministry.
Launching the platform, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, said the initiative is a major step in public sector reform.
She said the ministry’s mandate affects Nigerians through water supply, sanitation, irrigation, river basin development and climate resilience programmes.
Walson-Jack said the 1GOV ECMS enables secure digital records management, automated workflows, electronic approvals and real-time collaboration across MDAs.
She added that the deployment aligns with the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025 and the directive for full digitalisation by December 2025.
“Effective governance cannot afford delays caused by manual bottlenecks or avoidable inefficiencies,” she said.
She directed that all official correspondence in the ministry must henceforth be processed through approved digital registry channels.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Dr Emanso Umobong, said the system would eliminate workflow inefficiencies and improve service delivery.
She urged staff to fully adopt the platform and engage in continuous capacity building.
Research shows that local communities and citizens living at the grassroots, particularly women, are directly impacted by the environmental degradation, flooding and others that result from these manifestations.
In the light of this, non-governmental organisation, Ese Usamali Foundation For Rural Development (EUFORDe), has held a forum for women and other members of oil impacted communities, tagged: ‘Voices from the Grassroots,’ and aimed at building their resilience and mitigation efforts against climate change and environmental degradation
The forum, with the theme: ‘Building Resilience for Oil Spill Impacted Ahoada Communities,’ organised with support from Global Green Grants, was held in Ahoada Community, Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, on December 5, 2025.
Executive Director of Ese Usamali Foundation For Rural Development, Mercy Elemchukwu-James, said women are at the forefront of efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.
The event, therefore, was “designed for community women impacted by oil spills, flooding and other environmental degradation,” she said.
Community women were enlightened by resource persons on new opportunities for sustainable agricultural practices and water management techniques that cushion the impact of oil spills.
Lectures were also delivered on Self-care and Trauma-care, with focus on physical and mental health of the population, and increasing access to health-related resources and services; as well as on Food security and women’s critical role in decision making in oil spill and flood situations in communities
Elemchukwu-James pointed out that the event created a forum for stakeholders, civil society actors and others to dialogue on measures at advancing inclusive and sustainable livelihoods of community women.
She stressed the need for collaborative efforts towards achieving mitigation efforts, while underscoring EUFORDe’s commitment to “fostering partnerships as a critical driver for achieving a healthy community and sustainable development.”
Elemchukwu-James described participants’ design of ‘Community Resilience Plan,’ to manage and combat environmental degradation and crises, as part of achievements recorded at the event.
The forum also witnessed the launching of EUFORDs’ Center For Resilience and Rights.
“This center is established to build resilience as Trauma-Care for victims of environmental degradation, support for survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and a platform where victims of environmental injustice and other GBV cases can seek redress,” Elemchukwu-James said.
Participants celebrated the milestones achieved and charted a path toward greater impact in the coming years. They also described the event as “an inspiring and transformative experience.”
Elemchukwu-James said the awareness creation workshop “reaffirms EUFORDe’s mission to create an equitable society in which the rights and capacities of women, youth, children and underprivileged are integrated in the socio-economic planning and development of communities, for the attainment of equity and peace.
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