The Federal Ministry of Environment says it has established four automated Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) stations in the southern part of the country as one of the measures to combat flooding.
Mr Ekong Ekanem, Deputy Director, Flood and Erosion Control in the ministry said on Wednesday that the system would help to reduce the frequency of flooding in flood-prone parts of the country.
FEWS is designed to alert communities of the likelihood of flooding and also helps them to make adequate arrangement for mitigation.
It is also meant to be a mechanism for the monitoring of flood-prone locations and to cater to river basins and dams.
“When FEWS programme started last year, we had two automated stations and 305 community- based centres, but along the line, in the progress of events that came up, that automated stations increased from two to four.
“So right now, we can confidently say that we have four automated FEW stations in the country.
“They are located in the South, where the greater magnitude of flooding is being experienced; we are planning to expand this to cover major river basins across the country.
“On the community-based FEWS, we are having some additions; right now, we have two more stations established, one in Jigawa and the other one in Benue; so that has increased our tally from what we had earlier.
“So, I can say confidently that there is progress, but there is still room for more; we need to cover all the major catchment areas that are experiencing flooding in the country.’’
Ekanem added that people were mostly affected in flood-prone areas because of the water current from river basins.
He said that there was the need for community members and local government officials to work closely to avert disaster during flooding.
“When one of our community-based centres in Pategi, Kwara, was flooded, we went there on a review and discovered that because of the high water current, some of the pieces of equipment were a little bit affected by the flood.
“But we were able to put it up and we’ve been in communication with the vanguard in the area; they are working, we have their phone numbers and they are communicating with us.
“Most of the centres where we have community-based FEWS are functioning, though at that level there is a little problem of communication gap between the community members and the local government officials that are supposed to give support.’’
According to Ekanem, a new approach of using satellite to monitor flooding is underway as a committee has been set up by the Federal Government to work out modalities on how to address river bank flooding in the country.
He said: “I am fully aware that when the National Space Research and Development Agency was doing its experimental study on Niger SAT-1, it tried to bring in some researchers to look into it, but I think we were not lucky, because by the time we got the information, it was late.’’
He added that awareness programmes had been carried out with the support of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme.
The deputy director promised to sensitize community members to the need to adhere to rules and regulations aimed at combating flooding and the adverse effects of climate change for sustainable development.
He listed Opa River in Ile Ife, Osun; Omi River in Ibadan, Ogun River in Isheri Olofin in Ogun State; and Maidan-Agiliti River in Lagos State as possible sources of flooding.
Ekanem, however, advised people to imbibe good environmental sanitation practices and to avoid the indiscriminate dumping of refuse in waterways.
