Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum on Saturday, allayed the fears of residents of Maiduguri and Jere local government areas over possible flooding of the areas through the Alau Dam.
It could be recalled that the dykes in the Alau Dam collapsed on September 10, 2024, submerging houses in Maiduguri and environs with over 150 lives lost while properties worth billions of naira were destroyed and over a million residents displaced from their homes.
The fears of the residents arose over the report of increasing level of water in the dam, as well as the the flood that hit the city of Maiduguri on Wednesday leading to the collapse of eight buildings with a graveyard submerged and many residents rendered homeless.
Speaking during his inspection of the dam, Governor Zulum recalled that few days ago, the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the collapsed Alau Dam raised the alarm that the volume of water in the dam was increasing.
He said based on the alarm raised, the Borno State Government, in partnership with the contractor were able to mobilise and fully opened all water channels in the dam, adding that it is now running, with the volume of water in the dam receding.
The Governor said he was told that the level of the water has dropped with about 14inches within the last few days, stressing that he believed the level would continue to drop.
“Based on our engineering knowledge, we concluded that there is no cause for alarm. We shall continue to monitor the progress of work in the dam. Most importantly, I have to warn the people of the state to desist from building on waterways. We have to be careful. We have to ensure that all the perimeter standards are adhered to.
“Borno State government will embark on massive drainage of waterways of the town,” Zulum said.
On the likely delay in the rehabilitation of the Alau Dam 10 months after the disaster, Governor Zulum noted that government has a process of executing its projects.
“We had a lot of concern that the pace of the rehabilitation is slow, but now we can see that the contractors are in the site. We have to commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for approving N80 billion for the rehabilitation of the collapsed dam. And looking at the mobilisation by the site, the contractors are working.
“We want to look at the masterplan of the State and ensure that all waterways are cleared to allow inflow of water to the rivers. We must enforce some certain environmental standards. It is better for us to safeguard, take early warning measures rather than remedial measures after the incident might have occurred,” Governor Zulum said.
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