Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has called on citizens to join hands with the government and its agencies to tackle flood disasters in the country.
Akpabio made the call when he declared open a ‘’Stakeholders Sensitisation Workshop on Flood Awareness Campaign’’, organised by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Uyo on Thursday.
Represented by the Deputy Governor, Mrs Valerie Ebe, Akpabio said the government and its agencies would not be able to manage the nation’s flood disasters except with the citizens’ support.
“The campaign and sensitisation against flood disaster is not only the responsibility of government and its agencies, we must rise together to end this menace. “I am optimistic that resource persons in this sensitisation workshop will do justice to the topic of discourse and galvanise the public to be ready to tackle the impending flood,’’ he said.
The governor said that flooding could be reduced or managed with a carefully planned and control system.
He urged citizens to desist from blocking the drains with waste, building house in flood- prone areas and erecting structures on the water ways.
Akpabio expressed optimism that with the control measures going on in the country, the impact of flooding this year would be minimal as against 2012 experience.
The NEMA South-South Coordinator, Mr Umesi Emenike, said the workshop was meant to create awareness and prepare the people for the possibility of floods in 2013.
Emenike said that with the February 2013 prediction by the Nigerian Metrological Agency that 31 states in the country would experience floods, NEMA has to create awareness on disaster management.
“All we are doing now is to reach out to the states which are likely to be flooded,’’ he said.
