NEMA urges residents in riverine areas in Ekiti to relocate

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has urged residents living in the riverine communities in Ekiti to relocate as the state might record more flood later in the year.

NEMA’s Head in charge of Ekiti, Ondo and Osun States, Mr Olusegun Afolayan, gave the advice when he visited some residents of Ikere Ekiti on Friday.

The residents had relocated to Ado Ekiti as a result of flood in their area.

Afolayan said that the state might experience more flood following the prediction by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) that there might be much more rainfall in September and October than in the previous months.

The National Daily reports that following a three-day rain, no fewer than 100 houses in Oke-Osun area of Ikere Ekiti were submerged by flood after a river in the area overflowed its bank.

Mr Sunday Adebunmi, the Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said that the state government would swing into action by dredging the river and channelling the drainage systems in the community.

The Olukere of Ikere Ekiti, Oba Ganiyu Obasanyin, appealed to the state government to come to the aid of the community and cautioned the residents against dumping refuse into the drains.