Representative of National Economic Council, Mr. Adebari Salaam inspecting flood ravaged portion at the Iju Water Works of Ado Odo, Ota Local  Government area of the State during the validation of State Emergency Management Agency's (SEMA) report on affected areas across the State.

By: Our Correspondent

          The National Economic Council (NEC) in partnership with the Ogun State Government has inspected no fewer than 17 areas and public facilities destroyed by heavy rainstorms and flooding, between 2022 and 2023, to validate, verify and assess the report sent by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), with a view of providing relief support and bring succour to the displaced persons across the State.

          Some of the affected places inspected include schools, farmland, roads, markets, business premises, electrification projects, and many more were randomly selected by the NEC, to ascertain the SEMA report on the level of flood-ravaged areas.

          Speaking with some of the affected people during the validation visit, the Farm Manager, Sig-Max Farm in Ajura II in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the State, Mr. Nathaniel Tobechukwu, who took the entourage around the affected farmland areas, said the effects of flooding on plantations were devastating and had totally destroyed every green plant, appealing to the officials in charge of disaster management to expedite action towards providing relief support and compensation to alleviate the plight of the victims.

          On her part, an official of the State Ministry of Health working at the National Programme on Immunisation, Ogere, Mrs. Ganiyat Akinyemi said the effect of flooding in the office premises had been hampering their official duties and called on the visiting teams, as well as government to rehabilitate the road leading to the office.

           Also speaking, a motorcycle rider in Ajaegan in Onibunkun Community, Ado-Odo/ Ota Local Government Area of the State, Mr. Femi Babatunde said commuters and passers-by who ply the road usually experience untold hardship whenever there is heavy rainfall, causing overflooding of the river banks, emphasising the need to make the roads motorable and passable for residents.

          He called on the government to urgently come to their aid in order to reduce the challenge of the incessant overflow of the river banks.

          In this same vein, the Special Adviser to the State Governor on Budget and Planning, Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan, who earlier welcomed the NEC representative to the State, Mr. Adebari Salaam, urged the Federal and State governments’ agencies saddled with the management of emergencies occasioned by natural disasters, to proffer practicable steps towards averting incidences of flooding and others, saying it would go a long way in ensuring judicious utilisation of funds for other pressing needs of the people.

          Olabimtan appreciated NEC for the visit, and emphasised the need for a quick and immediate response to the plight of the displaced ones across the State, saying, "I am quite elated with this intervention by the National Economic Council at this period, You have come here to validate, verify and to give an assessment on the level of flood disaster areas and damages recorded across the State. We assure you of our unreserved cooperation, as we look forward to the Federal Government's quick and efficient response to the plight of the displaced".