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

In a statement issued to newsmen in Awka, the organization said it is “disgusting and disheartening” that avoidable flood-related deaths continue to occur because drainages and water channels have been blocked by waste and poor maintenance.

“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 read.

The press release, endorsed by Evangelist Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme AMBP-UN, Chairman, and Comrade Chidi Mbah, Secretary, is themed *“Let Us Protect Human Life.”* It stressed that safeguarding lives and property during the rainy season is a collective responsibility.

Key Calls by CLO Anambra:

1. Resident Action: All landlords and occupants must immediately clear gutters, drainage channels, and waterways around their premises. Refuse dumping in drainages must stop.

2. Government Sensitization: The Ministry of Environment should embark on aggressive public education and enforcement campaigns on flood prevention, proper waste disposal, and environmental hygiene.

3. Stop Building on Flood Channels: Government agencies must intensify efforts to discourage and demolish illegal structures erected on natural flood channels and waterways.

4. School Fees Regulation: CLO commended Governor Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo and the State Executive Council for the proposed law to regulate mission and private primary/secondary schools. The law is expected to curb exploitative and inhuman fee hikes.

CLO recalled that it has repeatedly alerted the state government to the plight of parents over outrageous school fees charged by some mission schools, 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 organization stated.

CLO 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.