Tackling Flood the Oshiomhole Way

BENIN City, the capital of Edo State has had its fair share of flooding which rears its ugly head whenever there is a downpour. However, the city was not always like this. Being a well-planned city, even by Western European standard, Benin City, according to materials gleaned from the internet "consisted of ramparts and moats, called iya, enclosing a 4,000 square kilometre (2485.5 miles) of community lands.... Advantageously situated, the moats were dug (sic) in such a manner that earthen banks provided outer walls that complemented deep ditches.... The ramparts range in size from shallow traces to the immense 20-meter-high rampart (66 feet) around Benin City (Wesler 1998: 144).