Flood: Ilori blames Osun flood on waters from Northern dam

By Mustapha Aleem

In the face of massive water sweeping major parts of Osogbo in Osun state, the state consultant on environmental issues, Hon Bola Ilori, has blamed the water released from Asa dam in Kwara state, which later spread to the dams in Osun State just before the rain started for the disaster.

He said the drains in Osun could not cope with the water ejected to all the water channels in the state coupled with heavy amount of rainfall, led to a heavy water body.

Bola Ilori made this known during his visit to Rasco Bridge, where dredging is ongoing in Osogbo.

He said, ” You want to look at what really led to the flood on Monday or Tuesday, the biggest factor we found out was the opened dam in Kwara and massive water was released onto Osun. So, water came through Ekoende, Eko Ajala and Owala Dam had no choice but to be opened. The opening of the gate of Owala dam created massive water body, which ejected to the entire water channels around the state.”

He noted that, before the water could escape to other parts of the country, the rain started, hence the flood.

“What created the problem we are having was not just the rain but the large amount of water that came from the Northern part of the country, our drains could not cope with the massive water from the dam together with the large amount of rain water. It was not just because the channels were blocked,” he said.

He however, appealed to the Federal Government to release the 12 billion naira that was approved by the Revenue Mobilization commission last September, saying the ongoing dredging was done on credit because the state was incapacitated to execute such.

Ilori added that although the state had expended 2.8 billion naira on dredging over five years, there was no dredging for the entire 2015 due to financial issues


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