Federal Government has been urged to provide relief materials for over 200 households recently displaced by the flood in the Michika/Madagali Federal Constituency of Adamawa State.
The member representing Michika/Madagali Federal Constituency of Adamawa State, Hon. Zakaria Nyampa, who gave the charge during a media chat in Abuja, expressed grave concern over the renewed distress being passed through by hundreds of families including women and children who suffered losses during the havoc wretched by insurgents within the areas.
According to Hon. Nyampa, no less than 200 houses collapsed following the continuous torrential rain which ravaged the area, adding that some of the displaced persons are currently housed in schools within the locality, while others have “relocated to neighbouring towns to find a place to squat with relatives and friends.
“But at the moment we have plenty of displaced families which is very bad, especially during this raining season where we have a lot of mosquitoes in those areas and if you look at the cold weather is very bad around Shuak, Kirchinga, Kamale areas that are just flat land where flood has taken over.”
In the bid to ensure timely government intervention, he disclosed that formal letters have been sent to authorities of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, I have approached National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and the Ecological Office, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing as well as North East Development Commission (NEDC).
He said: “The situation of flood in Nigeria is very season, especially during this season and more serious in my constituency. As I’m talking to you now we have a lot of households displaced. The unfortunate thing that happened recently is that my people at the moment are so displaced they are accommodated in the primary schools across the villages and a lot of houses were destroyed by the recent flood that happened in my area.
“And there is a lot of death recorded because some houses collapsed because of the flood on even children so we lost lives and property and animals. The displaced people are sleeping at the moment as I speak with you. It’s very unfortunate, that our people are sleeping outside under the trees, and some are sleeping in classrooms; especially the men have resolved to allow the women and the children to be sleeping inside a block of classrooms while the men are sleeping outside.
“The current situation is very bad for my people who are bitten by mosquitoes, no sanitation facility, no food items, no beddings. These are the challenges my people are undergoing currently as I’m talking to you. These things happened in so many villages, it happened in Shuwa, Gulak, Kirchinga, Mayo Wandu and other villages.
“The flood has destroyed so many houses and bridges. Now the bridge linking so many places and the main highway – the Shuwa bridge and Gulak bridge is no longer accessible and this also serves as a security threat because our people use that only route to escape when there is an attack. And you know our people are just resuming from the suffering they went through during insurgents’ attacks.
“They are trying to rebuild their lives and with the support of the State government so many security challenges have improved in these areas but the flood has worsened the situation, the predicament and the suffering of our people. This is the unfortunate situation my people are currently going through at the moment.”
“I have laid the complaint about the suffering, the bad roads, the collapsed bridges in my constituency so I’m still hoping that the Federal Government will come to our aid to complement the efforts of the State Government because currently, my Governor has sent a lot of support to those areas.
“But I’m still looking up to the Federal Government to come with larger support for my people. So many houses collapsed so we are looking at a situation where the Federal Government will look at this with all sense of urgency and sincerity.”
According to him, at the moment there are no stable statistics of all the displaced persons and collapsed buildings because “most of these houses affected by the flood may eventually collapse after two or three days because they are rightly inside the flood and eventually collapse.”
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