Akwa Ibom residents lament loss of property to flooding

According to punch Residents and shop owners in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Wednesday lamented loss of property and goods worth millions of naira to flooding.

They accused the state government of insensitivity and of poor handling of drainage channels in the state capital.

The flood, which swept through IBB Way, Ukpong Ebet, Akpa Ebet, Akpan Ukpo, Udo, Urua Ikpa streets, among others, affected many shops and houses.

At Ukpong Ebet Street, Off IBB Way, shop owners were seen savaging bags of beans, processed cassava (gari) from the water.

One of the traders, Mr. Eyo Okon, said he and his younger brother were trying to salvage some of their goods from the flood.

He said, “I don’t have money to rent another shop. This is the only business I am doing to take care of myself and my family.

“As the rainy season has started, I cannot tell how we are going to survive. When it rains, we are always at the mercy of the flood.”

A resident, Mr. Stanley Udo, told PUNCH METRO that all the drainage channels constructed around Abak Road Housing Estate empty rain water into the area. He added that neither the government nor the construction companies thought it wise to construct gutters that could take the flood away from the area.

He said, “We have lost property worth millions to flood. Every year we continue to suffer since we do not have somebody to construct drainage channels in our areas. The government has done nothing to control the flood here.

“One thing that baffles me is that our area is opposite Akwa Ibom State Secretariat. Once the area is flooded, the major road, IBB Way, is also flooded.

“If the government had cared and was serious to do something about flooding in this area, it would have constructed drainage channels around IBB Way which would have taken the water away.

“Businesses only thrive here during the dry season. In the rainy season, many of the people who own shops here leave; they cannot expect customers to wade through the water to buy goods from them.”

Senior Special Adviser to Government on Technical Matters, Mr. Etido Inyang, neither picked his calls nor responded to a text message sent to him by our correspondent, who sought to get the government’s reaction on the issues.

However, the Akwa Ibom State government had on November 4, 2013 told journalists that it would need about N500bn to end Uyo flooding.

Governor Godswill Akpabio had said Uyo would require maximum investment to bring the issue of flooding under control.

He had said, “It will take us over N500bn to actually address the drainage problem in Uyo and bring it to a conclusive end. But we are working on an underground drainage system for the Tropicana Centre, which will take us up to Aka-Nung Udoe-Ibesikpo Road and also de-flood part of Abak Road. That construction is ongoing and not yet completed.

“It was the same problem we used to have majorly in Uruan Street before you got to Oron Road, where we used to have a river flooding the whole of that area. I assure you that in the next rainy season, that problem would be taken care of.”