(http://www.osundefender.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/flood-150x150.jpg)
The total amount of money needed to effectively combat the problem of flooding in Eti-Oni, Bolorunduro and Ipetu-Jesa Township, three towns recently affected by flooding in Oriade Local Government Council Area of Osun State, will be in the tune of about N10 Million.
This revelation was made known recently in a chat with OSUN DEFENDER COMMUNITY NEWS by the caretaker committee chairman of the council, Honourable Taiwo Fatiregun.
Honourable Fatiregun disclosed that after conducting an on-the-spot assessment tour of the affected communities, he came to a conclusion that the best solution to combat the flood that recently affected these communities and forestall a re-occurrence was for the state government to embark on channelisation of the streams in the council area.
"I did an estimate of the cost implication of what it would cost the local government to construct the Eti-Oni Bridge and realised that it would be in the tune of millions of naira.
I also discovered that what we need to do with the flooding problems is to channelise all the streams in the affected communities", he stated.
The council boss declared that they had already reached out to the state government to help out in respect to the affected areas and response was being expected in that regard.
He maintained that the reason for the call on the state government was that no budgetary provision was made for floods.
Honourable Fatiregun also stated that the huge cost of the work was too much for Oriade Local Government to bear. In his assessment of the flood, Honourable Fatiregun stated that in Eti-Oni the most affected community; people were prevented from moving outside the village as a result of the collapsed Eti-Oni link bridge.
Farm produce was also affected and the whole community was cut off. He disclosed that Bolorunduro and Ipetu-Jesa suffered a similar fate due to lack of proper drainage in some parts of the towns, especially the road linking to the home of Elder Oluwatosin, which was completely flooded.
Fatiregun stressed that experiences the local government had learnt from the flooding incident was that his caretaker committee would prepare a supplementary budget, so as to take care of the matter on ground.
According to him, "the budget that we met on ground did not envisage this kind of situation.
We are trying to make a budgetary provision that would take care of the situation now".
"It is only when we have succeeded in doing this that we can actually take proactive measures to make sure that it won't occur again', he added.
The council boss admitted that the flood was partly due to the carelessness of the community members, who dump refuse into the drain and after four days of persistent rain fall, the drains were blocked.
Commenting on the response of the member representing Oriade State Constituency in the Osun State House of Assembly, Honourable M.B.O Ibrahim, Fatiregun disclosed that he had promised to provide adequate support.
The Oriade Council boss also promised that he would be commissioning 35 new projects before the year ends, part of which would be a park dedicated to the late high life maestro Isaiah Kehinde Dairo.
Osun Defender