35 persons killed by flood disaster, says Niger government

Niger State Government has raised the alarm that no fewer than about 35 persons have been killed during the recent flood disaster in the state, adding that the flood this year and the extent of destructions with regards to building collapse, displacement of people, submerged or washed away of several thousands of hectares of farmlands, livestock, poultries farm, roads among others this year was more than the year 2012 flood disaster in the state.

The Director-General Niger State Emergency Management Agency( NSEMA) Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Inga stated this at the weekend during an interactive session with the newsmen in Minna, the state capital.

He said, ” the floods this year is more than what happened in 2012 because there are more communities that were covered with the flood. And even now the whole of those communities and more than 40 others in Niger South Senatorial District alone are submerged, while about 35persons across the three senatorial districts of the state died as a result of the flood disaster.”

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Also corroborating the statement made by the NSEMA Boss, was the National Youth President for the creation of HYPADEC. Comrade Jibrin Abdullahi Muregi, who is also an indigene of Muregi in Mokwa local government area of the state, stated that the council area was seriously hit by flood disaster presently.

Comrade Muregi, a former Chairman, Niger State chapter of the National Youths Council of Nigeria, said for more than four decades that the type of the flood disaster witnessed in Muregi and it’s neighbouring communities had never happened this way.

He noted that the nearest incident to this year’s flood disaster witnessed by him and members of his community was that of the year 2012 flood disaster in the state.

Meanwhile, the Director-General Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Inga has said that the consequences of this year’s flood disaster in the state were the untold hardships unleashed on the victims especially the residents of the riverine communities in the state.

He said our people’s houses, livestock fish ponds, poultry farms, other farmlands where rice, maize, sorghum, groundnuts, cassava, melons, sugarcanes among others were planted were either submerged or washed away in addition with the roads.”

He added that traditional occupation like fishing was distorted, stressing that our people are today left with almost nothing to do and almost hopeless situation.

The NSEMA Boss said at this point, we seek Allah’s face and urgent Federal Government’s intervention in conjunction with the intervention of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), including the international community and well-meaning Nigerians and Corporate organizations intervention in the form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

It could be recalled that recently, during a Media parley with journalists at the Government House, Minna, the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello lamented the extent of the damage caused by floods disaster in parts of the state which informed his decision to set up some committees headed by some top government officials, led by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Ketso, with the mandates to embark on the visits to some of the seriously affected communities across the three senatorial districts of the state for on the spot assessment of the flood disasters in the respective communities in parts of the state.

The Governor said, “every time we have a lot of floods. But we had never experienced since in the past, but this year’s flood is something else. The Kainji Hydroelectric power dam has released over 6,000Litres of water per second and this is the first time they are opening all their four spillways.”

He, however, described it as an act of God, just as he described it as nature and probably due to global warming, stressing that this year’s floods have been excessive, saying that definitely a lot of support was required by Niger State government to assist those communities that were seriously affected by the natural disaster.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE