…says no going back on demolition of illegal structures blocking canals

As part of pre-emptive measures to ensure the free flow of water to existing rivers and prevent flooding in Warri, Uvwie, Udu, Sapele, Ughelli, and other vulnerable regions in Delta, the State government has began opening up of all major canals in the state.

This is coming following prediction of heavy flooding, particularly in some coastal states of Nigeria by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).

Frank Omare the Director-General, Special Duties, Government House, Asaba, who monitored the clearing of the canals which started from Effurun, Uvwie local government Area, down to Warri, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta, noted that the state government is determined to do the right thing.

Omare told journalist in Warri on Friday, that Governor Sheriff Oborivwori, is determined to do everything within his powers to ensure that flooding is a thing of the past in the state.

He said that by next week, the state government is going to embark on demolition of all illegal structures blocking all waterways in the state, warning that no amount of pleading from anybody no matter how highly place, will stop the demolition exercise.

“For some weeks now, government have been desilting some minor drainages in every street, which ought not be because every resident in the state uses the drainages as their refuse dump.

“What DESOPADEC is doing now is that after desilting the drains, the water is supposed to flow to the major canals. But the canals are blocked by silt. This makes the water not to go anywhere,” Omare said.

He added that in doing the right thing, the state government is going to do everything according to the law, stressing that they are not out to witch-hunt anybody.

“The ministry of urban renewal, their officials are on ground, the ministry of justice, their officials are on ground, and if we found out that some of these buildings were actually approved, then we will refer them to Asaba and they will be adequately compensated because we don’t want to illegally solve an illegal problem. We must do everything within the law.

“So nobody should be scared, but if you know that your building is on top of our waters, please go and remove it.

“We are not going to witch-hunt anybody. The Urban and Regional Planning officials are going round and they will be the ones mark any buildings for demolition. Deltans should not be scared because we are not going to do anything outside the law. But please nobody is allowed to call Frank Omare or the Governor to look the other side. We are going to get it right and we are going to get it done.

“So we expect that as resident of a community when you see somebody building on top of the canals, you politely tell the person that what they are doing is wrong. But for us we will not relent until we have a better environment in Delta state,” Omare added.