Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has approved immediate work on the Dogon Gida box culvert, which is on the brink of collapse.
Felix Abuah, the Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), stated this in an interview in Abuja on Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
The FCT Emergency Management Department had on April 7, barricaded the box culvert, to avert the loss of lives.
The culvert was on the access road that linked over 3,000 residents of Lokogoma village, popularly known as Dogon Gida community to Ring Road II
Also, the community members lose their loved ones to flooding while trying to cross the culvert during the rainy season, due to the low elevation of the culvert.’
Abuah explained that the minister’s approval was in response to the call to renew the hope of the affected commuters in line with President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” agenda.
“I assure you, work will soon commence in that particular area,” he said.
Mrs Florence Wenegieme, Director, Forecasting, Response and Mitigation, FEMD, who barricaded the culvert, described its condition as a disaster waiting to happen.
She described the culvert as one of the vulnerable locations in the FCT, particularly to flooding during the rainy season.
Similarly, the Ward Head of Lokogoma Village, Mr Irimiya Kanpani, had appealed to the Federal Government, the FCT Minister and the Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council to come to their aid.
Kanpani explained that the culvert was constructed in 2016 through community efforts, adding that every year, the community members mobilised resources to maintain the culvert until it finally gave way.
According to him, there is no year that a community member does not lose a brother, a friend, a father, a mother, or a sister to flooding, while trying to cross the culvert during the rainy season.
