SEMA DG sensitizes Calabar residents on practicable measures to disrupt flooding

The Director General (DG) of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (CR-SEMA) has appealed to residents of Calabar metropolis and its environs to stop the practice of dumping refuse in drains thereby causing blockages which in turn result in flooding whenever it rains.

Apostle (Dr.) James Anam made the plea on Friday August 23, while addressing a rally during road-walk which took off at the Millennium Park along Mary Slessor road in Calabar, Cross River State.

He used the occasion to appeal to the Ministry of Environment and Town planning Authority to carry-out its function effectively so as to deter people from indiscriminate cutting of trees that would have served as wind-breakers as well as stiff penalties for builders and owners of buildings on water-ways to address flooding especially with the torrential down pour experienced at the moment.

And doubling down, he cautioned against illegal sand mining on road sides by persons in the metropolis which has created gully erosions along shoulders of roads and streets making it an environmental hazard.

Speaking to newsmen after the event at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Center, the Special Adviser (SA) to the SEMA DG, Elder Francis Effiom disclosed that the sensitization exercise will continue in the sub-urban towns of Ugep, Ikom, Ogoja and Obudu in response to the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET) warning in their forecasts to coastal States with a view to avert flooding.

NIMET had forecasted that human activities through deforestation, urbanization, transportations, industrialization, indiscriminate waste disposal would cause harm to the ecosystem hence the warning to stakeholders to take appropriate measures to avert the potential impact of flooding in vulnerable states and locations in the country,

By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)