The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) yesterday urged the Federal Government to urgently dredge River Niger to check the perennial flooding of its banks.
The party noted that this would save the people along the coast of the river.
Through its National Chairman, Sir Victor Umeh, it urged the Federal Government to send materials to the flood victims through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The party noted that the burden was too much for the Anambra State Government to bear alone.
Umeh told reporters in Enugu, the state capital, that the floods have shown that the Federal Government needs to dredge the River Niger to make it contain the deluge that occurs during the raining seasosn.
He said: “The over-flooding of the banks of the River Niger, starting from Lokoja down the coast of the river, happens because of the huge silt that has accumulated along the coast. This makes it impossible for the river to carry the volume of water occasioned by heavy rain.
“If the River Niger had been de-silted through dredging, this flood disaster would have been averted.
“A long-term solution to this over-flowing of the banks will be the government awarding contracts for the dredging from Niger State down to the Atlantic Ocean. The dredging will achieve two purposes: it will make it possible for vessels to come from the Atlantic Ocean into the River Niger inland waterways and in fact make the Onitsha Port facility be put into use, as large vessels can now berth at the seaport.
“Secondly, the dredging will make it easy for River Niger to contain the water flowing through it, thereby averting the type of over-flooding experienced from Lokoja, in Kogi State, down to Anambra State.”