By joshua Flooding: Media Practitioner Advocates Capital Dredging As Lasting Solution For Ganaja Community
A resident of Ganaja Community in Ajaokuta Local Government Area, a Journalist and public affairs analyst, Abu Michael, has advocated for capital dredging of the River Niger as a lasting solution to the perennial flooding ravaging the community.
Abu Michael, who is also a journalist, made the call while featuring as a guest on Radio Kogi 94.1 FM during a radio program sponsored by Heinrich Boll Stiftung and Arctic Infrastructure, under the Ganaja Charter of Demand being driven by the Challenged Parenthood Initiative.
Lamenting the unquantifiable effect of flooding on the community since 2012, he noted that flooding in Ganaja is not just about rainfall but about the carrying capacity of the River Niger channel that borders the community. According to him, Ganaja sits on the floodplain of the Niger, just before the confluence in Lokoja, and over the years, silt, sand, waste and vegetation have raised the river bed and blocked natural flow paths. When water comes from up north through Rivers Niger and Benue or from heavy local rains, the river has nowhere to go and therefore spreads into Ganaja Village, Ganaja Junction and the 500 Units area.
The public affairs analyst explained that strategic and professional dredging would deepen and widen the channel, allowing it to carry three to four times more water volume and cause water levels to drop by one to two meters so that it stays within its banks instead of spilling into homes. He added that dredging the confluence and the Ganaja axis would restore the natural flow path, address sediment blockages that cause backflow and enable water to flow downstream faster rather than stagnating and overflowing.
Abu Michael further stated that dredged sand could be reused to build reinforced embankments and levees along the Ganaja bank, while the deepened portions would serve as retention basins to hold excess floodwater temporarily and release it gradually after peak flow. He noted that many small streams and creeks that should drain Ganaja into the Niger are currently silted up and that channel dredging and desilting of feeder drains would allow internal floodwater to empty quickly into the main river, thereby reducing flood duration from weeks to days and limiting damage to buildings, roads, the Ganaja-Ajaokuta road, farmlands and public health.
He emphasized that what Ganaja requires is not indiscriminate sand mining but capital dredging of the main Niger channel from Ganaja to the confluence, covering 500 meters to one kilometre offshore, complemented by maintenance dredging every two years before the rainy season in April and May. He called for proper Environmental Impact Assessment and hydrological studies to avoid activities that could worsen erosion, alongside reuse of dredged materials for shoreline protection, filling of low-lying areas and construction of flood defense walls, combined with embankment protection and planting of water-tolerant trees along the bank.
Beyond dredging, Abu Michael underscored the critical importance of dams for a confluence state like Kogi, describing dams as a brake for the river that holds excess water upstream and releases it gradually. He noted that dams also provide water supply, irrigation for food security, hydro-electric power generation, fisheries and livestock development, improved navigation and transportation on the Niger, job creation, tourism potentials and groundwater recharge.
While commending the intervention of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo’s administration in mitigating flooding across the state, he maintained that without adequate buffer dams, all the water from Rivers Niger and Benue rushes at once to Lokoja, causing annual flooding in Ganaja, Adankolo, Kabawa, Edeha and other riverbank communities. He therefore advocated for smaller buffer dams, levees and retention dams around Ganaja, Idah and Ibaji to trap floodwater before it enters homes, stressing that while dredging will not stop the rain, it will give the river enough room to carry the rain without carrying Ganaja along with it.