Torrential Rains: CLO Anambra Urges Mass Desilting Of Gutters, Drainages To Prevent Flood Deaths

KINGSLEY EBERE 

 The Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, Anambra State Branch, has called on landlords, tenants, and residents across the state and Nigeria to urgently desilt gutters and drainage systems as torrential rains intensify nationwide.

In a statement issued to journalists in Awka on Thursday, April 25, 2026, the Chairman of CLO Anambra, Evangelist Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme, AMBP-UN, and the Secretary, Comrade Chidi Mbah, described as “disgusting and disheartening” the continued loss of lives to flooding caused by blocked drainages and poor waste management.

“It is of prime importance to note that many of the lives lost to flooding in recent days could have been averted if every landlord and property owner took responsibility to desilt their gutters before the rains set in,” the statement jointly signed by the Chairman and Secretary read.

The release, themed “Let Us Protect Human Life”, stressed that safeguarding lives and property during the rainy season is a collective responsibility.

Key Demands by CLO Anambra Chairman and Secretary:

1. Resident Action: The Chairman, Evangelist Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme, and the Secretary, Comrade Chidi Mbah, urged all landlords and occupants to immediately clear gutters, drainage channels, and waterways around their premises. They said dumping of refuse in drainages must stop.

2. Government Sensitization: Both officials called on the Ministry of Environment to embark on aggressive public education and enforcement campaigns on flood prevention, proper waste disposal, and environmental hygiene.

3. Stop Building on Flood Channels: The CLO leadership, led by the Chairman and Secretary, demanded that government agencies intensify efforts to discourage and demolish illegal structures erected on natural flood channels and waterways.

4. School Fees Regulation: The Chairman, Evangelist Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme, commended Governor Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo and the Anambra State Executive Council for the proposed law to regulate fees in mission and private primary and secondary schools. The Secretary, Comrade Chidi Mbah, added that the law is expected to curb exploitative and inhuman fee hikes.

CLO recalled that the Chairman and Secretary had repeatedly alerted the state government to the plight of parents over outrageous school fees charged by some mission and private schools, despite the fact that government pays the salaries, allowances, and gratuities of their staff.

“Anambra people will remain eternally grateful to Governor Soludo if this life-saving and education-saving law is implemented without delay,” the Chairman and Secretary stated.

The organization urged all citizens to treat environmental sanitation as a civic duty, not just a government responsibility, noting that a clean environment is the first line of defense against flood disasters.