FEMA Removes Galadimawa Road Blockade
…Flags-off Dry Season Sensitization
By: Prudence Okonna
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has formally removed the blockade on the slip road from Games village, heading towards Galadimawa Interchange, popularly known as Galadimawa roundabout.
The blockade, which was placed to divert traffic because of the effect of flooding in the Galadimawa axis during heavy rains, had been in place for about four months.
Speaking during the official unblocking of the slip road at the Galadimawa roundabout, the Director General, FEMA, Abbas Idriss said it was only right to unblock the road since the rains have significantly reduced.
Siting that the forecasting of rains ending at the end of November by The Nigerian Metrological Agency will not cause any adverse effect on the road, because the rains will not be heavy even if they fall now.
The DG represented by the Acting Director, Forecasting Response and Mitigation, FEMA, Florence Wenegieme, emphasized that due to the loss of lives in the past, during torrential rains it became necessary to block the road every year since 2020.
Idriss added that because of the measures put in place, no loss of life or serious flooding was recorded throughout the year despite the heavy rains.
While appreciating the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, the DG recalled that it was based on the Minister’s directives to remove obstructions on waterways in the FCT, that the Agency could record no loss of lives or property.
In the same vein, it also opened up the Lokogoma road and flagged-off the dry season sensitization, while calling on FCT residents to be cautious in this season characterized by fire outbreaks by monitoring their electrical appliances when they are not in use.
He warned that residents should desist from bush burning, selling petroleum products under high-tension wires as well as sleeping and cooking in marketplaces.
His words: ‘’ We are, therefore, calling on residents in the FCT to make sure they are conscious of the Fire incident that keeps occurring in this period. Hence, you need to put these measures in place by putting out all electrical appliances in your offices and at home.’’
The DG assured FCT residents that the agency’s staff are all around the six Area Councils to secure the territory during the festivities through ‘’Operation Eagle Eye’’; an operation that is carried out during the Ember months, because of high level of traveling, which leads to many activities on the road.