FENRAD requests probe of River Niger dredging contract

Says overflowing is a man-made disaster

ARTICLE | OCTOBER 18, 2012 - 6:42AM | BY IKECHUKWU ONYEKWERE

Nelson Nwafor, the Executive Director of Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD), has urged the National Assembly to probe the River Niger dredging contract.

Speaking in a statement in Aba, Abia State on Wednesday, Nwafor described the disaster as man-made, and a result of lack of commitment to the welfare of the people by the government following its failure to heed early warnings.

Nwafor said the Federal Government could have averted the disaster before it caused the damage, adding that the flooding of the bank of River Niger from Lokoja to the coast occurred due to the huge silt that accumulated on it.

According to him, River Niger could not carry the volume of water occasioned by the heavy rain and the release of dams on its course.

Nwafor said the issue of dredging of the river had been recurring, lamenting that the contracts earlier awarded by the Federal Government were either executed poorly or were abandoned.

He said the long term solution to the over flowing of the river banks was the dredging of the river from Niger State down to the Atlantic Ocean.

He affirmed that the dredging would achieve different purposes.

"It will make possible for vessels to come from the Atlantic Ocean into the inland waterways, to make Onitsha in Anambra one of the seaports facilities which large vessels could use," Nwafor pointed out.

He said the dredging would also make the river capable of containing water flowing through it, and avert the type of flooding experienced in various parts of the country.

Nwafor decried the level of destruction and displacement suffered by the people, and called for immediate attention to the victims.

He urged the National Emergency Management Agency to collaborate with the presidential committee on flood relief to ensure that funds meant for the victims were not hijacked.

He urged the government to include civil society organisations in the committee, to accommodate the views of the communities affected by the floods.