The flood that claimed the life of a father and his two children in Lokogoma area of the capital territory drew the attention of the government to the poor state of infrastructure in the area.
This was as a result of the protest embarked upon on Thursday, last week, by some residents.
The deceased, identified as Kenneth Nwoga, and his two children, Winner and Prestige, died from the flood while driving from I-Pent5 Estate on August 17.
Director-General of FEMA, Idris Abass, who confirmed the tragic incident, told journalists that Kenneth and his children, a boy and girl, died when their Toyota Highlander SUV entered into the flood.
When Premium Times arrived at the scene of the peaceful protest, a crowd that had gathered dressed in black attires held placards with various inscriptions.
“Save Our Souls, Provide Primary Infrastructure Now! #LOKOGOMA3DEATHNOTINVAIN.
Others read “We are tax payers! We deserve government presence in Lokogoma #LOKOGOMA3DEATHNOTINVAIN.
“Flood is controllable, provide infrastructure now #LOKOGOMA3DEATHNOTINVAIN,” read some of the placards.
One of the conveners of the march, Joseph Nnorom, said the government had “abdicated” its responsibility by not providing basic infrastructure in Lokogoma.
The physician explained that there were about 30 estates and about 400,000 subscribers of the mass housing scheme in Lokogoma.
“We subscribed because we had faith in government even though it’s on a PPP, private public-sector partnership.
“We also believed and bought into it, but unfortunately as you can see, if you look, there are no roads here, what you see here as roads are actually tracks that were made by tippers, and lorries delivering building materials to construction sites.
“That is what we have been using since 2008, till date as roads, as access roads,” he said.
Speaking further, Nnorom revealed that letters had been written to the Abuja minister towards relieving the plight of residents of the area.
“We have made representations to the authorities; we have written to the minister previously, we have the acknowledgment endorsed copy of what we wrote to honourable minister to come to our aid.
“Anytime it rains, most of us will be trapped outside the whole of this place until the rain subsides.
“For crying out loud, Lokogoma is part of FCT as you can see there is no government presence. It is Kenneth Nwoga’s family now; it may be my family next time. Even when you are not around, your children may take a wrong decision so it is an environmental hazard that everybody is exposed to.
When Premium Times later contacted Nnorom on the outcome of the protest march at the minister’s office, he said: “We met with the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of FCT and his directors. Two decisions were taken:
Efforts made to reach other members of Nwoga’s family were unsuccessful.
