Minister: Why engineering solutions to flooding have not been implemented

Suleiman Adamu, minister of water resources, says Nigeria’s “economic situation” is the reason engineering solutions that will help address flooding have not been implemented.

TheCable had reported that Adamu recently said 80 percent of floods in Nigeria is caused by rainfall and not the release of the Lagdo dam.

In a Channels TV interview on Thursday, Adamu said water resources management is an expensive venture.

“The flood is a combination of many things. First and foremost, there are natural disasters like earthquakes; that everybody must accept that there are certain things that are an act of God,” he said.

“But there is also the human aspect to it. One particular thing I will say is that for decades, we have been bastardising our watersheds. We have been deforesting our lands; we have been degrading the soil.

“Secondly, many Nigerians just refuse to be law-abiding. They build on water courses; they block drains and water channels — so many activities that are being done.

“Yes, and of course, I will accept that also, there are certain strategies that ought to be taken — maybe engineering solutions that over a long period of time have not been addressed. But that is also because of the nature and the level of our economy.

“Water resources management is an expensive venture. It is a time-consuming venture. Even the studies alone take years to be completed. So, it is a combination of so many issues really.”

Meanwhile, over 600 persons have been confirmed dead from the floods, while a total of 2,504,095 have been displaced so far.