By G9ija
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi has asked the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on all flood affected areas across the country.
At a visit to flood victims in Ibi local government Area of Taraba State on Tuesday, the presidential hopeful also urged the government to adopt the global best practice of desilting all its waters to avert a reoccurrence of this year’s flood that wrecked havoc across the nation.
“”We are calling on the government to come with interventions, declare all the affected states – a disaster area,” the former Anambra governor stressed.
Adding that, “what the federal government has to do to stop this is to ensure that the waters are desilted.
“The rivers have all been silted and we need to work on them, this is easy, it is done globally, all over the world.”
According to Mr Obi, several contracts have been given out to fix situations like this in Nigeria, however, nothing has been done.
Speaking further on the desilting process, the Labour Party flagbearer said by desilting the water bodies, the rivers begin to contribute to the wellbeing of the people, not to be a source of trouble for the masses.
While assessing the level of damage caused by the flood, Obi interacted and sympathized with the flood victims. He reassured them of his firm support even as they try to stay afloat in this difficult time.
Obi who has been urging other presidential candidates to suspend campaigns and join him to raise awareness regarding the plights of flood victims in Nigeria, insisted that the federal government must send a high powered delegation to evaluate losses because states alone cannot cope with such disaster.
He thanked the Taraba government, traditional rulers and other leaders within the state who are helping to alleviate the situation and are giving the people succor in this time of distress.