FIC Report (Anambra State) – Anambra State Government has intensified steps towards implementing environmental preservation techniques and building flood-resilient communities in coastal areas of the State.
A two-day workshop on flood resilient solutions organized by the state Physical Planning Board in conjunction with a private firm was followed by a field visit to select Coastal Communities in Anambra East and West Local Government Areas.
The Communities visited included Umueze Anam, Mmiata Anam, Nzam and Umueri and the visit served as the beginning of the implementation of the resolutions from the workshop.
Chike Maduekwe, Chairman, Anambra State Physical Planning Board, who during the visit explained that it was to fashion out ways to mitigate flooding in Coastal Communities in the State to avoid flood disaster added that Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s Administration is deliberate about building a wholesome liveable and prosperous State which is why it is already collaborating with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to develop a flood resilient plan for the State.
Also speaking, the traditional ruler of Umueri, Igwe Ben Emeka stressed that anything that affects Anambra West, affects the East, especially Umueri people in the river bank as the same river Omambala divides them, just as the Traditional ruler of Nzam, Igwe John Ogugua recalled that their fore-fathers saw and survived high-level flooding which stopped with the construction of Kainji Dam, until the recent climate change, suggesting that government should help by building resilient structures across the coastal communities.
The Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Tony-Collins Nwabunwanne, who hails from Anambra West described the initiative as laudable as it is in line with the present administration’s urban regeneration agenda and harped on the need for proper education especially for those who are yet to build houses.
Nwabunwanne stressed that part of what is needed is total compliance to the directives and recommendations of the state Physical Planning Board.
Mark Okoye, Managing Director of Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, Ugochi Agalaba-Ehiahuruike, Executive Director of Social and Integral Development Centre, among others who were part of the visit, said that it will engender new ways of doing things in the coastal areas, just as is obtainable in other countries of the world
Ibeneme Maria Nkilimma
Senior Info and Pub Relations Officer
