Rivers State government has promised flood prone communities in the state that they would not feel the negative impact of the 2023 flooding, adding that necessary steps needed to cushion its effect have been duly taken.
Chairman of the Rivers State 2023 Multi-Sectorial Flood Committee, Chidi Amadi, disclosed this during the public launch of the 2023 road map of the state government on mitigating the effects of the flood in the state at St. Paul’s State Primary School field, Ahoada.
Amadi, who is the Chief of Staff to the state government, noted that the state has provided everything necessary to achieve the success, adding that committees have been set up at the local government areas to be the first point responders when the predicted disaster happens.
The committee leader said the state government began full scale planning on mitigating the effect sof the 2023 flooding as predicted by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, NIMET, two months ago, noting that the state is fully prepared for the flooding.
He said: “What we are witnessing here today is the result of over two months of planning. With the announcement of the 2023 flooding by NIMET, the governor inaugurated a committee. The committee comprising of all the LGA chairmen supposedly to be impacted in the flood of the 2023.
“Your excellency, appointing me as the chairman of this committee is as a result of your determination to ensure that you are constantly briefed of the activities of this committee because, you do not want a repeat of what happened last year to repeat in Rivers State.
“And so, I testify that on daily bases, His Excellence has called me requesting to know how far the committee has gone regarding our preparation. The committee has gone to all the local government areas to set up a local government committee.
“We have done sensitisations and jingles even in local dialects. In the first two months, the LGA chairmen have ensured that all necessary measures were taken to ensure that we do not witness what happened last year.”
