June 06, (THEWILL) – Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Environment, Mr Charles Udoh, has identified wrongly terminated drainages during construction, as the primary cause of perennial flooding and gully erosion in Uyo, the state capital and the state in general.
The Commissioner identified the problem at the weekend, during an exclusive interaction with THEWILL Correspondent in his office at Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo.
According to him, some ravine prone areas such as Uyo Village Road, Asutan Street, Ikpa Road, among others had remained dormant until such mistakes were made by contractors in previous administrations in the state.
“Sincerely, I don’t mean to discredit any administration because the government is a continuum, but the problem with Uyo Village Road is the wrongly terminated drainage. The water was brought from Itam and left hanging instead of taking it down to terminate properly.
“Of course, the problem won’t show immediately, the work was approved and contractors paid, but the problem was only solved for a few months, it suddenly became a monster.
“It is the same issue with Ikpa Road, it is also water from Itam and Itu Road axis. Water from the flooded area comes to Ikpa Road. That is why we are trying to see how we can have a sustainable model of drainage termination.
“Another case is that of Asutan Street. That was an error by the contractors. Though a ravine prone area, it was dormant, but the contractors dropped the drain and went away.”
To nip the problem in the bud, Udoh disclosed that a sustainable model for environmental management strategy has been approved by the State Executive Council, which will provide a template for proper drainage termination in the state.
He, however, called for immediate implementation of that template to save the state from impending doom, considering the topography of some areas, especially the state capital which he described as having a loose landscape.
“At the last Executive Council Meeting, I presented an environmental management strategy, which has been approved. That provides a template on terminating drains. Implementation will begin immediately. If we don’t do that, I can tell you that we are in trouble”, he disclosed.
The Commissioner further explained, “Everywhere you have a gutter collecting water, check, where does that water terminate? Especially in Uyo, which has a loose land. If you terminate it wrongly, like Asutan Street which was an error by the contractors, then expect a near future disaster.”
He mentioned that the State Executive Council had directed a synergy between the state ministry of works and that of environment, to ensure necessary environmental impact assessment is carried out to ascertain the standard of work at all times so bigger problems are not created while trying to solve existing ones.
