Kwara ACN chieftain Mohammed Dele Belgore SAN on Sunday called on the Kwara government to "as a matter of urgency take concrete steps to avoid another flooding across the state."

Belgore, who was ACN governorship candidate in the 2011 poll, noted that the government has not taken "any serious concrete and aggressive measures" to prevent a recurrence of the 2012 flooding which claimed lives and destroyed properties and farmlands in many parts of the state.

"As another rainy season beckons, we call on relevant authorities in Kwara State to as a matter of urgency take concrete steps to avoid another flooding across the state," Belgore said in a statement by his media aide, Rafiu Ajakaye.

His advice came days after the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) issued a flood alert in which Kwara was listed among states most prone to heavy flooding in 2013.

The statement read: "NIMET, in our opinion, has done its statutory duty of raising flood alerts in states believed to be prone to flooding this year. It is therefore the responsibility of the governments concerned to address this credible threat while it still can to prevent needless loss of human lives and properties.

"Indeed, we are disappointed to note that the Kwara State Government has not been taking any credible and aggressive measures to prevent a repeat of last year's disastrous flooding because we cannot point to any new drainages, canals or waterways constructed to ease passage of water anywhere in the state especially those areas ravaged by the 2012 flooding.

"Besides, beyond the new drainage on Fate road (Ilorin) linking the (long constructed) underground drainage at GSS round about and skeletal evacuation of the drainage along Offa road (also in Ilorin) sometimes ago, we do not know of any serious (executed or ongoing) evacuation of various blocked drainages across the Ilorin metropolis or elsewhere. Yet the state got N300m as its share of the federal intervention, aside its share of the federal Ecological Fund.

"Although the state government distributed relief materials reportedly to victims of flood, which is not a bad idea, we contend that a chunk of the money (which we
understand was 'used' for rural electrification) should have been used to erect anti-flood barriers in key parts of the state especially areas most prone to flood.

"We therefore advise the government to do something urgently to prevent a repeat of last year's flooding, because the people are tired of government issuing ondolence
messages in the aftermath of avoidable casualties or destruction of properties.

"Also, we urge Kwarans to keep clean environment and to avoid dumping of materials capable of blocking the waterways."