As President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan continues his tour of flooded states across the country, a fresh alarm has been raised warning of a possible wipe out of the ancient town of Abeokuta, in Ogun State, and parts of Lagos State, both in the South West geo-political zone, and a substantial part of the South South Zone.

The possibility of this calamitous development, Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand, could occur in the event that there is a collapse of the Oyan Dam, which is north of Abeokuta; just as the subsisting process of releasing water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon, if sustained, would only continue to worsen the already terrible flooding conditions in the S/South zone.

An expert in flood management and control, Dr. Akingbola Omigbodun, gave this warning in an interactive session with editors of Vanguard.

Omigbidan, who disclosed that he had written letters to the Ministries of Environment, Water Resources as well as to the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, painted a frightening picture of what could happen in the event that the Oyan Dam collapses because of the huge volume of water it continues to hold:

“The dam is north of Abeokuta. Just imagine water that has been trapped, about 10 stories high, breaking a barrier and flowing downwards to Abeokuta. You asked what would happen!

“What you would have would be a major disaster Just imagine water 10 stories high rushing downwards. It would wipe out everything on its path. That is what would happen should the Oyan Dam collapse and with the way water is being held back by the authorities of the Ogun/Osun River Basin Development Authority, anything can happen”, he warned.

The flood management and control expert pointed out that some of the major reasons dams are built are not being addressed by those who should manage the dams.

According to him, dams are built for purposes of irrigation and power generation but these dams are not being used for these purposes and the way water is released ‘wholesale’ makes the ordinarily bad flooding situation worse for Nigerians.

He described a similar scenario happening in the north eastern flank of the country where, he said, waters from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon contribute dangerously to the downward river force of the River Benue.

“The waters from the Upper Volta into the River Niger and the waters from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon which rush into the River Benue, with the confluence at Lokoja, all come downwards to the Niger Delta and the states of the S/South zone. Yes the situation in that zone is very terrible but it would get worse because the force of the water is still moving downwards”.