The rains are here again in 2017 and the people are beginning to feel its effect in the communities, especially those living in Lokoja, the state capital. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) had, in March this year, predicted the possibility of flood in many states of the country, Kogi inclusive.
True to the prediction of the agencies, some communities in the state have, in the last few weeks, been witnessing torrential rains that had led to flood. Penultimate Thursday, Sarkin Noma community in Lokoja was flooded with the development affecting a section of the ever busy Lokoja – Abuja road, as it was completely flooded.
Travellers and other road users from the south-west and South-east of the country were held within Lokoja and the highway as they had to wait for the water level to recede before they could use the road. Shops, mosques and filling stations located around NATACO junction were affected with the water, destroying many of their goods.
The rain, which started at about midnight, lasted till early hours of the day and by the time the people of the community and neighbouring ones woke up in the morning, the areas had been flooded and property destroyed. Many people were forced to flee as surging flood waters from a tributary of River Niger overtook their homes and shops.
Apart from Sarkin Noma, people living in other communities like Ganaja village in Ajaokuta Local Government Area, also had a taste of what the flood brought to their neighbourhood. Their compounds were submerged and valuables destroyed as they had to take refuge in their friends and families’ abode.
The morning after, many of the affected people counted their losses and pleaded for assistance. Narrating his ordeals, a resident of Sarki Noma, who was affected by the flood, Usman Gimba, almost broke down in tears as he pointed to relics of his shop and the goods therein. He said the flood had wreaked havoc on his business.
Gimba, a foodstuff merchant, said he lost many bags of rice, beans, flour, sugar and other food items worth over N750,000 to the flood.
According to him, his shop, located on the main road in the community, was overran by the flood water and swept-away his foodstuffs that were stocked there. The middle-aged man attributed the flash flood to the narrow nature of the water channel which the tributary from Agbaja passess to discharge its content into the River Niger, saying there was the urgent need for the state and federal governments to expand the water channel and bridge constructed around the Sarkin-Noma junction for easy flow of water to the River Niger.
“The truth is that we have been experiencing this flash flood almost annually because of the shallow nature of the bridge and water channel. We may still have another occurrence if nothing urgent is done to expand the bridge and the water channel,” he said.
He appealed to the Federal Government to direct more efforts to the construction of the bridge and water channel rather that sending relief materials which are often diverted by government officials.
Sharing his experience, Mohammed Sani, also a shop owner on the road and a victim of the 2012 flood disaster, said the fellow shop owners in the area called him early in the morning that his shop, where he sold food items, had been flooded. The shop was among those that were worst affected by the flood because of its closeness to the bridge where the water overflowed its route.
Narrating his ordeal, another trader who simply introduce himself as Abubakar said he was at home on the fateful morning when he was called by a neighbour that his shop with items like sugar, rice, beans, flour, noddles and other items worth over N500,000, had been flooded.
“I quickly rushed down to my shop and discovered that the entire road leading to the place has been submerged in flood. The flood overran my shop. The water level was around my shoulder when I managed to enter the shop. My goods were all submerged in the flood water,” he stated.
According to him, he was only able to salvage a few of his goods from the flood waters, lamenting that most of the goods that he displayed in his shop after the flood “were collected today on credit from my suppliers.”
“I really need assistance to enable me bring life to my business,” a depressed Abubakar said.
He stated that his case was further complicated with the fact that he was a victim of the flood disaster of 2012 in which he lost goods worth N2 million.
The 35 years old man lamented that the relief materials and items disturbed by the Federal Government during the 2012 flood never got to him, appealing to both the federal and Kogi State governments to come to his aid and that of other residents affected by the flood.
As the people of Sarkin Noma were lamenting their losses, those of Ganaja community also had tales to tell. A 22 years old nursing mother, Zainab Umar, with her two months old baby were displaced by the flood that overran her residence on Ajaokuta road. She said she had been living in the place for over two years but had a bad experience last week when her residence was overflown with water.
Umar said her property and that of her husband were destroyed by the water and they were now sleeping in a hall in one of the houses in the community. She Also pleaded with government to assist her and other victims by resettling them.
The state government has, however, been making moves to avert further occurrence of such flood in many parts of the state, and also said efforts were on to cushion the effects of the flood on the people.
The Kogi State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Rosemary Oshikoya, also noted that the resources available to the state government were not enough to face the challenges associated with a natural disaster of such magnitude.
The state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who visited some of the areas affected by the flood, disclosed that no fewer than 10, 000 families were displaced by the flood. Apart from the people, at least 5000 houses were also affected by the incident.
He, however, said government had concluded plans to relocate the affected people to a camp, using a facility provided by the Federal Mortgage Bank in Lokoja, the state capital. The governor also reechoed the need for the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) and the Fderal Government to come to the assistance of the state.
The governor, who sympathised with the victims of the flood, said “I have moved round to assess the extent of damage by the flood in the affected places and various channels that were blocked by illegal structures and illegal activities, we have seen them, over 10,000 families were affected in the state, we are very proactive in the state and we have moved the people away from the affected area
“We want to appeal to the Federal Government and NEMA that when flood happens in any part of River Benue and River Niger, Kogi State is most affected, I don’t have to shout, I don’t have to beg too much for Federal Government to come and assist us.
On our part, with the little resources we have, we have been able to help our people; we need their assistance so that our people that those that are affected can be resettled”.
and then