Date: 2019-09-20

Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq of Kwara has condemned the channelisation of Asa River in Ilorin, saying it is narrow.

The governor called on the Federal Government to order the contractor handling the channelisation project to go back to the site.

Abdulrazaq spoke on Thursday in Ilorin during an on-the-spot assessment of the project at Mubo area of Ilorin where Wednesday's downpour reportedly claimed the life of a 22- year-old Kwara State Polytechnic student, Adeyemi Lateefah.

He said he had written to the Federal Government about the threats the poor job poses to the people of the state, especially residents of Ilorin.

"This (channelisation) was long awarded. They didn't execute it properly. We have written them a letter that they should come and finish it. What they did is too narrow," Abdulrazaq said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lateefah slipped into the canal on Wednesday evening during the downpour on her way to Maraba Motor Park and was swept away by the flood.

Efforts by men of Kwara Fire Services to retrieve her body had not been successful.

Abdulrazaq, who commiserated with the family of the deceased, gave an assurance that a search team had been dispatched to look for the victim, adding that the administration would ensure that proper steps were taken to ward off such incidents in the future.

He directed the Kwara State Ministries of Works and Transport and Environment and Forestry to immediately drain the flooded area, including a mega church where dozens of people were trapped following the downpour. Abdulrazaq also reiterated government's appeal to people in flood-prone areas to leave such vicinities following national forecasts about heavy flooding across the country, including Kwara.