By : Ogine Victor
Owing to the recurrent incidents of flooding occasioned by the rainy season and compounded by the blocked drainages in the Enugu metropolis, the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA) has issued a 30-day notice to all owners of properties erected along waterways to vacate the premises.
Also affected by the order are street traders, hawkers, and nightclub owners.
According to a statement signed by the Executive Chairman of the ECTDA, Dr. Josef Onoh on Sunday, the agency noted that it would not shirk in its responsibility of restoring sanity in the State capital.
Mr. Onoh who lamented the increasing cases of building collapse due to blocked waterways in the state, submitted that “notice is hereby given to all building owners whose structures were built on waterways, in all estates especially in Independence layout, GRA, among others areas which cumulatively forms the Enugu City master plan, to quietly remove them.
“They should liaise with the state ministry of works, or the state ministry of environment to find alternatives to salvage their properties.
“All submissions should be made to the ministry of Environment and Ministry of works within 30 days of this announcement. Any property owner who fails to abide by this announcement will have his property demolished.
“Therefore, to avoid public outcry, owners of the affected properties are requested to comply with this candid directive within 30 days of this notice.”
“All container shops along different streets of Trans Ekulu, Obiagu, Emene, and precisely the street traders along Enugu-Abakaliki expressway at Eke-Obinagu are hereby given the notice to clear from the roads within 30 days from the date of this announcement,” Onoh warned.
He equally declared that “all Night clubs constituting nuisances along Igboeze Street in Independence layout, particularly Cubaña and Rewind Nights clubs that have turned the residential area into street trading, Prostitution Avenue and a Keke hub are hereby compelled to abate the nuisances forthwith. Failure of these clubs to abate the nuisances within 30 days from this notice will result in immediate and permanent shut down of these premises.
“The Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority Taskforce shall henceforth commence systematic weekly raids of defaulters with heavy penalties. It should be noted that no individual or group is above the law and this agency will enforce every single power within the ambit of the law to suppress any resistance to violators of the law.”
Across Nigeria, flooding has since become an annual phenomenon not only in flood plains but also in urban and semi-urban areas. Experts link urban flooding to inadequacies of drainage channels that have become too small to contain excess runoff, the use of river channels as waste repositories thus clogging the channels, poor compliance with or non-existence of land use zoning/building codes, poor waste management practices, and removal of vegetation that create resistance and minimise flood impact. Coastal areas of Nigeria are not spared from flooding as they may be worst hit by flood this year.
