Flood disaster: Mokwa LG boss hails Gov Bago, speaks on relief items distributions 

The Executive Chairman, Mokwa Local Government Council, Niger State, Hon. Abdullahi Jibrin Muregi, has commended the State Governor, Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago, for the release of N1 billion as intervention fund for payment of some of the victims of the recent flood disaster in the council area, and the delivery of 30 trucks of food items out of the 50 Trucks of grains earlier promised.

The Council Chairman, who was represented by the council secretary, Alhaji Dauda Liman, during an interview with the newsmen last Thursday, explained that as the distribution chairman for both monetary intervention and food items, the council has “recorded a lot of achievements and there are also a lot of challenges in  this unfortunate incident which occurred between the 28th and 29th May this year.”

He described the flood disaster in the area as a very disastrous and unfortunate incident, adding that with the Federal and State Government’s intervention,  and some well-meaning Nigerians including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and their counterparts from Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), as well as other Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) like the Nigerian Red Cross society, Religious Organizations and the Chairman, Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar; Corporate Organizations,like the North South Power Company, owners of the Shiroro Hydro Power Plant, in the state among others, they were to put smiles on people’s faces.

According to Liman, nobody expected the incident,  stressing that there is no River flowing within Mokwa town and neither did they have a river  channel within the town, emphasizing that the rains that fell in the two days was not an heavy rainfall, but pointed out that it was only God that knows what happened.

Speaking on complaints from people who claimed not to have received monetary intervention, Liman said during the compilation of different batches of lists in conjunction with officials of NSEMA, some of the victims had fled Mokwa town to neighbouring communities and were not captured in the process.

“With me here, I have a list of the households. There are 458 households and each of them was being given One, One Million Naira (N1 million) per person and that has been confirmed,” he said..

Alhaji Liman stated further “that  the destroyed houses and shops are 524 in numbers, and each of them was being given N500,000 per person. And we recorded 138 deaths. And each bereaved family was given N1 million each.

“When the victims who had ran away got the news of the state  government’s intervention and the distribution of food stuff; they were not around when we took the data of the affected victims in Mokwa Town and its environs. So, this is the problem we are now facing.”

He however gave kudos to officials of the NSEMA and NEMA and other intervention agencies, noting that their patience and endurance were put to test during the disaster.

He stressed that after the first verification exercise, the NSEMA Officials came back for the second time and captured a lot of people, disclosing that  “It is the second batch that we are doing now. We are giving the victims money and food items. 

“A lot of people that were coming, we went for the verification and we discovered that they were genuine,” adding that  some of these victims have not been given anything up till now while also describing the situation as the problem that he and his local committee are currently facing.

Furthermore, the Council Secretary pointed out that the remaining food items inside the store of the Local Government Council was not enough to be shared among the remaining victims who have just returned to Mokwa to be assisted by the State government with the view to alleviate their hardships.

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