Remove structures on waterways or face demolition – FEMA

The FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has called on residents in the Federal Capital Territory who have built structures on water channels to immediately remove them or face forceful demolition.

FEMA’s Director General, Malam Abbass Idriss, stated this last week during a programme on capacity building for volunteers and vanguards in Abuja with the theme ‘Rescue Operations During Flooding Disaster and First Aid Treatment for Victims’.

Idriss said the present flooding is a direct fallout of climate change which has assumed global dimension and the FCT was not an exception given that flash floods have occurred in areas like Kubwa, Gwagwalada, Abaji and other locations within the territory.

He added that people should desist from dumping of refuse in water channels and building on same as that was one of the major factors responsible for flooding.

“Because of the importance of volunteerism, FEMA would soon recruit professional swimmers, who reside near rivers to be able to respond promptly when there is flood,” he said.

Also, FEMA’s acting director Relief and Rehabilitation, Mrs. Racheal Alkali, said training of volunteers is aimed at building capacities at the community level to render assistance during flooding, adding that the volunteers and vanguards are also stakeholders who are contributing to the management of disaster within the FCT.