The South East Governors Forum, Sunday, called on the federal government to dredge rivers in the zone to avoid constant flooding and disasters in the region.
They made the call during the meeting of the forum in Enugu.
The forum presided over by its chairman, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state, said it would contribute to assist flood victims in the five states of the zone.
A statement issued by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Chooks Oko, he quoted the forum to have resolved among other things to institute a regional security on the highways to curb insecurity, especially as yuletide period approaches.
“The South East Governors decried the state of insecurity in the region. You are all aware that our economic activities have come to a halt while kidnapping and wanton killing have become the order of the day.
“South East Governors, therefore, call on the Federal Government to come to the aid of the people of South East in beefing up security in the zone bearing in mind that elections are also around the corner and there are heightened activities within this period.
“Meanwhile, we deliberated on the best way to help our people and also restore their confidence to go about their businesses and we all agreed definitely and totally to start a joint security patrol on all our major highways in South East and this will commence before December first, so we are going to put funds together to purchase vehicles to ensure that we have twenty-four hours joint patrol of security people in most of our highways in South East.
“The Forum commended the Federal Government for efforts to alleviate the suffering of victims of flood disasters in the area but called for more interventions from the Government to enable the victims to resettle.
“We hope however that while the immediate solution is being given by the Federal Government, that long-term solution will be discussed because that is what is most desirable knowing well that this has become an annual thing and with climate change, nobody knows what the next year would be like.
“South East Governors have decided to put funds together to further assist victims of the flooding in five states of the South East; it will be a common project to show synergy and to show sympathy to all our brothers and sisters who have suffered so much as a result of this unfortunate situation.”