The King of Upata Kingdom in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, His Royal Majesty Felix Otuwarikpo, has announced plans to review the kingdom’s flood management committee as part of efforts to strengthen disaster preparedness ahead of the rainy season.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, the monarch said the traditional council is putting measures in place to address the challenges experienced during previous flooding incidents, particularly the devastating 2022 floods.
According to him, the kingdom is exploring partnerships with relevant institutions to improve emergency response and provide temporary shelter for displaced residents should flooding occur.
“Beyond what the government is providing at the community level, we’re looking at several options. During the last flooding, we appealed to the school management board to allow us use some facilities to accommodate internally displaced persons, as well as some health facilities. At our meeting on Saturday, we will begin reviewing those partnerships, determine how many facilities we can secure, and put machinery in place to address some of the problems we experienced in 2022,” he said.
Otuwarikpo also called on the Rivers State Government to establish a State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), arguing that the state requires a dedicated institution capable of responding swiftly to its peculiar environmental and disaster management challenges.
The traditional ruler expressed dissatisfaction with what he described as the inadequate response of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to recurring flooding in communities across the South-South region.
He said the limited intervention by the federal agency has forced community leaders to shoulder much of the responsibility for providing relief and support to displaced residents despite their limited resources.
The monarch urged the Rivers State Government and the State House of Assembly to enact legislation establishing a functional SEMA to coordinate emergency response across the state.
He further appealed to the government to introduce policies that would ensure academic activities are not disrupted whenever flooding affects communities, stressing the need for better planning to protect both lives and education during disasters.
