OGSG compensates flood victims with N285m •Needs N7bn to check future occurrence

Victims of the last October floods that ravaged parts of Ogun and Lagos states were last week compensated by the Ogun State government when the governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel, issued out cheques of N285 million to them.

The compensation was paid even as the state said it would cost as much as N7 billion to put in place a permanent structure that would check the menace in case of future occurrence, and that it would reconstruct the roads and bridges damaged by the flood.

The payment of the compensation, held on Wednesday at the headquarters of Gateway City Development Company, Isheri in Obafemi Owode Local Government and Ifo Local Government near Lagos, was supervised by the governor who also handed over the cheques to the recipients.

The victims received different sums of money depending on the level of loss suffered by them. This ranged from N50,000 to N12 million.

The payment followed the submission of the report  of a committee set up by the governor to devise measures to prevent  recurrence and verify the claims of residents of communities who were worst affected by the flood.

The chairman of the committee, Dr Adeleke Adedoyin, who is also the State Commissioner for Environment, said 1638 residents in the affected area submitted a claim of two billion naira but his committee which included civil engineers, estate surveyors, and furniture experts came up with a figure of N570 million through verification.

The committee, however,  recommended that the state government defray the losses by 50 per cent,   hence a total of N285 million was recommended as financial assistance to the victims of the disaster.

The committee  said the reconstruction of roads and bridges damaged by the flood would cost two billion naira while   measures to prevent future occurrence  including creation of three artificial lakes, de-silting of Oyan Dam and dredging along the path of Ogun River was put at N5 billion.

Already, some roads and bridges damaged by the flood including the Oke Igbehin twin bridges are undergoing reconstruction while some have been completed.

Speaking at the occasion, the governor revealed that the money was sourced from the N700 million Federal Government’s special intervention fund which was released for the purpose of tackling the flood problem and alleviating the problems faced by the victims.

He disclosed that the state had started the dredging of rivers and earth canals, reinstatement of roads washed away by the flood and other palliative measures in the areas affected by the flood.

The governor pointed out that, though the state was trying to find a permanent solution to the problem, the final and permanent solution was beyond the state government. He pleaded with the Federal Government to come to the state’s rescue through the ecological funds.

Mr. George Akinola, who spoke on behalf of the communities, commended the state government for promptly releasing the funds to those affected as well as the Ogun State Road Management Agency (OGROMA) which had already mobilised to commence road rehabilitation in the area.

Akinola, however, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene and ensure the release of funds from the ecological funds to ensure a permanent solution to the problem in the area as it was well beyond the capability of the state government.

The publisher of Hallmark Publishing Limited, whose premises were partly submerged by the floods, Prince Emeka Obasi, urged the Federal Government to intervene to save residents of the area and businessmen who had invested a lot of money into various ventures from a recurrcence by ensuring that the ecological fund was deployed to solve the problem in the axis which straddles Lagos and Ogun States.

Source : Tribune