Youths of Iboko Offot axis of Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Thursday, March 10, 2022, blocked a portion of Abak Road, where a 60-year-old woman was swept away by the flood, due to Wednesday evening downpour
The protest left vehicles plying the road to Abak, Etinan, and other adjoining parts of the state with hectic time navigating through Ukana Offot, Nkemba, and Clement Isong streets, to get out of the capital.
An eyewitness and local resident of the street, Anietie Sam who spoke with Independent in Uyo on Thursday, March 10, 2022, said the deceased was a petty trader along Nkemba street, close to the scene of the incident.
Sam who reported that the woman met her untimely demise on her way from the market where she went to buy goods for sale, blamed the incident to open drainage in the area.
In his words ” It happened around 4.30 pm while it was still raining heavily. We made efforts to rescue her when we noticed she was being swept away uncontrollably by the floodwater.
“Before we got to her, the fast-moving water had already drawn her closer to an open hole linking the underground drainage facility”.
He alleged that “officials of the state waste management and environmental protection agency had opened the slaps to remove sewage and cleared the drains, but failed to cover it back for about three years now”.
Effiong Asuquo, one of the protesters, blamed the Ministry of Environment and Solid Minerals for what he described as a “lack of sincere commitment to environmental protection”, vowing; “we will remain here until the state government recover the remains of the aged woman and adequate compensation given for proper burial”.
Speaking with journalists, Commissioner for Environment and Solid Mineral, Sir Charles Udoh sympathize with the situation and appealed for calm as frantic efforts were on to retrieve the corpse for burial.
“I am on the spot of the incident right now to find the dead body. So, I have ordered for equipment to come. We need to break the slaps and the gutters so we can pull them to find the dead body.
“After that, I will do a proposal to the governor on how to prevent future occurrence”, he assured.
When also contacted, the Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Waste Management Agency, Prince Ikim defended allegations of negligence but however told our correspondent that the gutters were deliberately left open after desilting to enable the agency to monitor the effectiveness of the exercise when it rains.
“We left it open to see if it would flow for further works to be done on the area”. He said
Asked if there were sufficient warnings signs in place to guide members of the public, he responded on the affirmative but expressed concerns that the heavy flood must have covered the stones used as barricades.
He, therefore, advised Uyo residents to avoid Nkemba and its environment during a downpour, warning that the yet-to-be-linked ongoing World Bank flood control project in the state has temporarily diverted flood to other parts of the state.
While extending sympathy to the bereaved family, Ikim assured that men of the agency were pumping waters out of the gutters to see the possibility of recovering the corpse.
Source: Independent
