If elected president in 2023, Peter Obi, who is running under the banner of the Labour Party (LP), has stated that he intends to address the problem of flooding that is afflicting the country.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reports that 34 out of Nigeria’s 36 states have been affected by the flooding, which has resulted in the displacement of 1.3 million people. The flooding is currently affecting a significant portion of Nigeria.
According to reports, more than 600 people have lost their lives, and more than 200,000 homes have sustained either partial or complete damage.
The campaign that Obi was running was put on hold so that he could visit some of the areas that were impacted by the earthquake.
The candidate for the Libertarian Party (LP) expressed their belief that the issue of flooding can be resolved by predicting the amount of rainfall that will occur and dredging major rivers in order to contain the water. This conversation took place on Monday and was broadcast on ARISE Television.
“What can I do to prevent the water from continuing to flood? There is more than one activity that falls under my responsibilities. There is a problem with the Lagdo dam, but even the minister admitted that the weather, and not the dam, was to blame for the flooding. However, if you take the average rainfall over the past 20 years — beginning in 2001 — it has remained the same, which indicates that it can be forecasted, as Obi explained.
“However, the problem is that we have decided not to dredge a number of rivers. From Baro in the state of Niger all the way down to the Atlantic Ocean, the Rivers Benue and Niger need to be dredged. But there is currently no capacity to hold this drainage, and tributaries are also contributing to what is causing this problem. Our nation’s economic expansion is not being supported by the rivers to the extent that it should be.
“In order for us to be able to control this situation, we need to take these steps.”
A week ago, Obi expressed his condolences to people living in Benue state about the devastation that flooding had caused in their communities.