Environmental expert attributes Ondo flood to government’s ineptitude

The ZL Global Alliance Ltd, an environmental management company, said the flood that wreaked havoc in Ondo City was caused by the poor handling of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency(NiMet) predictions on weather situation by the Ondo State government.

Thefrontrank reports that on Friday many residents of Ondo town were trapped, with houses submerged and property damaged due to the heavy downpour that led to flooding.

A statement by the Dr. Abiola Bashorun, FCICN, the Chief Executive Officer CEO, ZL Global Alliance Ltd, on Saturday, blamed the Ondo State Commissioner for Environment, Mr Oyeniyi Oseni, the poor handling of environmental issues in the state.

The statement titled ‘Ondo Flash Flood: An agony of preventable tragedy’, read:
“I like to commiserate with the people of Ondo City over the unfortunate flash floods that ravaged the city on Friday leading to destruction of properties and other losses. While we acknowledge the fact that flooding is a natural disaster that is more preventable than controlled, I feel that the response to distress alarm sounded by NIMET and other weather monitoring agencies in Nigeria to states was not well heeded by the Ondo State Ministry of Environment.

“Just while the incident in Ondo City was happening, the Ministry of Environment hurriedly put up a press statement purportedly to commiserate with the people over their losses to the flooding but failed to own up that the Ministry has not been proactive enough in its preparation against such natural disaster. The Commissioner, Mr. Oyeniyi Oseni, in the statement, claimed that an amphibious crawler had been deployed to Ondo City two weeks before the incident to work there. This, to my mind is a weak defense because at that period, the bulk of the channelization work was supposed to have been completed long before and not just being done.

“While ZL Global Alliance was handling flood control for the state government, despite the poor payment pattern, we went all out to obtain loans to ensure that we did the needful. This was why Ondo State never recorded a single case of flooding in 2022 when across Nigeria, there were different cases leading to loss of over six hundred lives and destruction of properties worth billions of naira.

“It is also important to ask the Commissioner for Environment some pertinent questions that could assist in averting similar occurrences in the future. Which company or contractor now handles flood control for government? Was there proper handing over done between the former handler, ZL Global Alliance and the new handler (if there is any)? Is it the Ministry of Environment that is handling the flood control processes by itself? If that is the case, which agency of government monitors and supervises such activities? This is important to know because it is difficult to imagine that the executing agency is also the monitoring agency. That would be counter-productive.

“Please remember that there was an incident at Ore last year and considering the proximity of Ore and Ondo, there was supposed to be proactive steps taken to avert a spill of the same incident to Ondo that has now happened. Since that incident, nothing been done despite several memos and pleas through the Special Adviser, the Ministry of Environment and other authorities to please let us address that matter all to no avail.

“It beats my imagination that this is the result Ondo State is getting after Governor Aiyedatiwa tried to create some sort of consistency and continuity by making Hon. Oyeniyi Oseni, who was the Special Adviser on Environment, based on avowed claim that he understands the workings of the Environment and supposed wealth of knowledge cum experience. It would have ordinarily been taken for granted that he should know that the environmental impact assessment of the various occurrences of 2022 and 2023 would negatively impact on the environment. I recall vividly that several meetings, several phone calls, several letters were written to address this matter.

“This Ondo City flooding would therefore go down as an eye-opener to the antagonistic way that myself as a person and ZLGA was harassed out of a job, they signed contracts on. Even after the governor graciously stepped into this matter with us in court, asked that this case be taken out of court, the Commissioner hurriedly went back to court the next day to seek court order to collect the amphibious crawlers without paying us till date. If the Ministry of Environment under him now has the machines in its custody, how come this tragedy? The one that was faulty was never attended too despite our various calls for such to be fixed. I know that there will be claims of certain payments. Please note that ZLGA is armed with enough proof to show why the swanpboogie has not been repaired to date.

“Please be reminded also that the commissioner claims that he’s going to use the balance of the money owed to ZLGA to refix these amphibious crawlers and to do the job, what has happened? That claim in the first place is illegal but that is a matter for another time. Second, everybody knows that it is not only the amphibious crawler that solves the problem of ecology and flooding in a location. A combination of manual desilting and mechanical channelization amidst effective waste management, and vegetation control are the factors that come together to give desired result.

“It goes without saying that the recent flooding in Ondo City is enough a proof that the Ministry of Environment has been ineffective in the handling of its core objectives. One would expect that channelization of the connecting channels in Ondo such as Fagun, Itanla among others should have been decongested of waste and debris long before now. ZLGA used to look for every means to get this done between January and April every year, thus preventing such unfortunate disaster.

“From the foregoing, rather than chasing clout and majoring in the minor, it is important for the Ondo Environment Commissioner to sit up and be alive to his responsibilities. The government must at this point take inventory of its investment in the Ministry of Environment towards ascertaining it is indeed serving the people and not servicing the pockets of a microscopic few at the expense of state development.

“Once again, I sympathize with the people of Ondo City on this unfortunate but preventable incident.”