Flooding: Kwara Fire Service discovers new-born baby in river during desilting process

Wed, Oct 9, 2019
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Disasters

MEN of the Kwara Fire Service, on Wednesday, discovered the body of a new-born baby during a desilting process at the Unity Road axis of Asa River, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The Director of the service, Abdulwaheed Yakub, who disclosed this in an interview with the newsmen, said it was unfortunate that a new-born baby could be dumped in a river.

He said that the desilting process was part of efforts to prevent possible flooding at the river.

Yakub said that the state government through, the agency, had mapped out flood prevention and disaster risk reduction plans in Ilorin, with a view to avoiding possible flood disaster that might the city in the coming weeks.

The executive warned that the city would be open to distortion of movement and overflow of the river, if urgent action was not taken with more heavy rain expected in the coming weeks.

He said that the fire service had started evacuating all dirts and debris in the river to complement the state government’s resolve to avert the ugly situation.

The director further call on the state government to provide adequate equipment to help the agency in its bid to tackle the situation, stating the agency had been improvising in order to keep the city away from the risk.

Yakub called for collaboration among agencies in charge of environment, planning and security to stop the dumping of refuse at critical areas of the metropolis.

He called on residents of the state to desist from dumping refuse in the river, adding that residents of flood-prone areas should observe safety tips to minimize casualties in event of flooding.

“It’s highly regrettable that people dump all sorts of things inside the river to the extent of dumping a new born baby; a baby some have been looking for.

“We must be our brother’s keeper by not dumping refuse in the river, because as you are clearing your own area, you are destroying other people’s area,” Yakub said.

 

-Oct 9, 2019 @17:59 GMT |

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