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I Will Stop Flooding In Nigeria If Elected- Peter Obi gives out plans
Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, has provided details on how he intends to address the country’s flooding crisis if elected president in 2023.
While speaking on Arise Television on Monday, Peter Obi stated that the flooding situation might be avoided by anticipating rains and dredging important rivers to contain the water.
He said, “What will I do to curb this flooding? There’s a combination of things that I need to do. There is the issue of the Lagdo dam but even the minister said the rainfall caused the flooding and not the dam. But if you take the average rainfall in the past 20 years — since 2001 — it remains the same, which means it is predictable.
“But the issue is that we have refused to dredge some rivers. We need to dredge the River Benue and Niger from Baro, Niger state down to the Atlantic Ocean. But there’s currently no ability to hold this drainage, and tributaries are also part of what is causing this problem. The rivers are no longer contributing to our economic growth as they should be.
“These are the things we should do to be able to contain this,” he said.
Flooding has struck the majority of Nigeria, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), with 34 of the 36 states affected and 1.3 million people displaced. Over 600 people are said to have died, and over 200,000 homes have been partially or completely destroyed.
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Recall the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has paused campaign operations due to the floods that have ravaged many sections of the country. Mr. Obi has also urged other political party candidates to halt their campaigns and join him in assisting flood victims.
On Wednesday, he paid a visit to Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom in Abuja. His meeting with Mr. Ortom was to discuss logistics for his scheduled travel to flood-damaged areas in Benue and other states.
His appeal comes in the wake of floods that have ravaged portions of Nigeria in the last two months. Kogi, Benue, Ebonyi, Anambra, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Imo, Abia, Edo, Delta, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, and parts of the Federal Capital Territory are among the states affected.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), flooding induced by the rains has affected around 2.5 million people and killed over 603 people.
Speaking to journalists, Mr. Obi stated that he expected other presidential contenders to be concerned about the situation of flood victims, given the millions spent on nomination forms alone.
He stated that regardless of political disagreements, everyone must work hard. “I halted and informed my team there would be no more campaigns until we could visit some of the places and at least sympathize with the victims,” he explained. If elected as Nigeria’s next president, he has promised to address the country’s problems.