The flood situation in Kogi State has become a recurring decimal that often puts officials of the State Emergency Management Agency on edge. Mr. Julius Mejiyan, the agency’s executive secretary, agreed that the magnitude of the disaster this year is shocking, and the impact, overwhelming.
More than a week into October, the rains have shown little sign of abating. Subsequently, River Niger overflowed its bank, submerging communities, farmlands and destroying infrastructure on its path.
The rampaging flood has wreaked untold havoc across nine local government areas of the state, such as Lokoja; Ibaji; Kogi (Kotonkarfe); Igalamela-Odolu; Bassa; Ofu; Ajaokuta; Omala and Idah, which are described in emergency parlance as “red zones.’’
Although the state government said it was difficult to come up with a tentative data of the humanitarian crisis the situation has thrown up and the level of destruction until a post-flood assessment is done, emergency officials said field reports showed that more than 200 communities were affected as at the last count, with hundreds of citizens displaced.
Reports revealed that makeshift camps for displaced persons have sprung up across the “red zones’’ but in Ibaji Local Government Area, there are no dry lands for such facility as the entire area has been under water for weeks.
A resident of the area, Samuel Ekele, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the flood situation in Ibaji was quite horrific and devastating, adding that the current development made the 2012 incident a child’s play.
“In Ibaji, everywhere has been submerged by flood. There is no high ground there. Some of the displaced people have relocated to Idah Local Government to stay with relatives while many others who share border with Enugu have moved there.
Those ones staying back are using canoes as temporary shelter. They are sleeping in canoes. Some constructed something they are living on top because they don’t want to leave. That is the situation now.
Government has not opened any camp for victims yet. There is no place to even set up a camp in Ibaji. Farmlands in the area have been submerged.
As we speak, nobody is going to farm in Ibaji. Schools have been flooded and now shut. Teachers don’t even have places to sleep, so how can they teach? It is a very terrible situation,’’ he lamented.
Like Ibaji, the situation in Kogi (Koton-Karfe) Local Government Area has been chaotic for weeks as flood submerged many communities and farmlands. Greater part of Koton-Karfe, the local government headquarters, has been submerged for weeks as the river overflowed its bank, spilling to residential areas.
The situation has also been affecting traffic flow as water spilled onto the expressway, even as it has forced the contractor working on part of the road to suspend operation.
A resident of the area, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who is also the desk officer in charge of ecological and emergency matters in Kogi Local Government Council, said no fewer than 66 communities were submerged by flood in the area alone.
He spoke in Lokoja during a recent stakeholders meeting organised by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in partnership with the Kogi State Emergency Management Agency (KOSEMA).
Abdullahi said that over 50,000 people had been forced to evacuate their homes and were being accommodated in schools, filling stations and other makeshift buildings.
He said some of the victims in Edeha and Koton-Karfe communities had been sleeping by the roadside and other open places.
He said schools had been closed as they were converted to temporary camps for victims, and called for urgent intervention from the government and the NEMA.
He further said the victims had lost their means of livelihood as their farms and livestock were also washed away by the rampaging flood.
Also speaking, a resident of Akpaku community in Kogi Local Government Area, Abdulmumuni Idris, told our reporter that the raging flood sacked their entire community and submerged their farmlands.
He said over 300 of them displaced by the flood were taking shelter in a camp in Koton-Karfe.
“The way the flood of this year happened took many of us unawares. It is like that of 2012. We only managed to rescue our people to safety. Our foodstuff and other valuables were submerged. Our crops, such as rice, beans, potatoes and yams have been submerged.
We are seriously in a very precarious condition and we want government to assist us with relief materials. We also need fishing nets to enable us go to the river to fish and support our families because we don’t have any source of livelihood now,’’ he said.
In Lokoja, the state capital, where River Niger meets with River Benue, residents of areas such Sarkin Noma, Adankolo, Felele, Kpata, Kabawa, Gadumo and Ganaja village recounted their ordeals, saying some of them engaged in daily activities using canoes.
Also, the flood displaced members of the State House of Assembly, a week after they cried out to the Federal Government to save the state from the humanitarian crisis thrown up by the disaster.
As a result of the rampaging flood, the Greater Lokoja Waterworks, which supplies water to residents of the state capital, has been shut down. Because of the situation, residents of the state capital have not had water supply for over a week. It was learnt that they now depend on water from well, water vendors and boreholes to keep life going.
A resident of Lokoja who spoke on the disaster said many fish ponds were washed away, in addition to farmlands that were submerged.
Speaking on the situation, the executive secretary of the KOSEMA, Julius Mejiyan, said all the flood-prone local government areas had been experiencing flooding.
He said the agency, alongside the NEMA, had gone on an assessment visit to the affected local government areas.
“Let me give you a summary of what has happened so far. It is not news now that there is flood all over the state, especially the ‘red zones.’ Right now, Lokoja is flooded all over.
The NEMA and SEMA team jointly visited all these, locations with the assistance of the Nigerian Navy, and we were able to see the extent of the flooding. Reports are being collated, and before the end of this week, we will be able to arrive at all the figures of those that were displaced.
There are local camps here and there in places that are affected, and government is reaching out to them. As I am talking to you now, in another 30 minutes relief materials would be going to Kogi Local Government Area,’’ he said.
He continued, “And you know, these things cannot be done all at a time. We are going to do it in stages. Places that are most affected will be addressed immediately. If you see the situation of the Abuja-Lokoja highway, you can see that it is an area that will cause a lot of problems.
We are making efforts. There is nothing we can do to stop the water from flowing. Response is the immediate solution, and that is what the government is doing right now.
Some of the victims are staying with their relatives. All these people have to be put into the record. The government will reach out to them as the flood recedes.’’
We’re reviewing the situation – Commissioner
Also speaking on the impact of the flood on schools, the Commissioner for Education in the state, Wemi Jones, said his ministry was monitoring the development and would take appropriate measures.
“We are reviewing the situation. We are constantly meeting with the Ministry of Environment on the situation. The area that is worst hit is Ibaji. Ordinarily, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic, this period would have been holidays for them, but because we have just got back from the COVID-19 lockdown, we cannot say the schools should close again.
We have 21 local government areas, but the one that is most affected is one. Of course, there are one or two more areas that are also affected, but all them are not affected. We are constantly meeting. On our plans, assuming the flood is not affecting the entire Ibaji Local Government Area, we could have considered relocating them to another school, but I think the most important thing is the safety of lives first.
“We are going to look for ways of making up for schools in the affected areas when the flood recedes. We will need to check the integrity of the structures before the schools in the areas can resume. It is really a big challenge we have on our hands. We are involving technical people too. We are on top of the situation,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the Kogi State Government has distributed relief materials to victims in Lokoja and Kogi local government areas.
Distributing the relief materials, the Commissioner for Environment, Victor Omofaiye, said the items, which included beddings, bags of rice and various food items, were to cushion the effect of the flood on the people.
Omofaiye said the state government was working closely with the emergency management agency to bring more palliatives to various communities affected by flood.
He urged people still residing in areas that were flooded to move to government- designated camps for safety. He advised them to support the present administration as more people-oriented programmes were underway to better the lives of citizens.
Speaking in an interview after the distribution in Koton-Karfe, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Emergency and Environment, Imam Sale Adam, said the present administration had been pro-active in tackling the issue of flood by distributing palliatives to victims instead of waiting for external aid.
He noted that the state government was working in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to relocate people from flood-prone areas to estates and higher grounds permanently to reduce the impact of flood on the people.
He called on well-meaning individuals and organisations to support the government in tackling the menace of flood in the state.
In a remark, the Ohimege-Igu of Kota said Kogi Local Government Area had many settlements along the banks of River Niger and River Benue now totally submerged. He urged government at all levels to come to the aid of the people, as well as revisit the dredging of both rivers.
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