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Kabawa area of Lokoja.
Ganaja village axis of Lokoja-Ganaja road.
Photo credit:von.ngr.org.
By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
The flood in Lokoja, Kogi State, North-Central Nigeria showed no substantial sign of receding on Tuesday as many victims groaned and searched for refuge with friends, relatives and other good Nigerians.
Our Correspondent in Lokoja, monitoring the ugly development reports that areas mostly affected
are: Adankolo, Ganaja and Nataco, among others.
Part of major roads in the state capital as at Tuesday,remained almost impassable, prompting residents to resort to the use of Canoe as a means of transportation to execute their journey or trip as the case may be, especially at the Ganaja axis of Lokoja-Ganaja road.
The Reporters gathered that the flood does not spare some local government areas as Onyedega,the headquarters of Ibaji Local Governnent Area,a prominent riverine area in the North-East flank of the state,is said to be worse hit in the ravaging flood..
Sources from the area told the online publication that the local government has lost enormous farm produce and property of hundreds of its residents destroyed by the flood.
The story is not different in Kogi, Bassa and part of Lokoja Local Governnent Areas of the state, where residents are also bemoaning the loss of property among other inconveniences.
Our Correspondent reports that some class rooms of LGEA primary school located in Gadumo, Ajaokuta Local Governnent Area of the state, are being habited, temporarily, by some victims of flood, even as the pupils resumed classes on September 26.
Some victims of the natural disaster who spoke with our Correspondent in separate interview,called on the state government to come to their aid with relief materials to cushion the effect of flood on them and their dependants.
“I have lost substantial part of my personal belongings to the flood and life looks sorrowful for me and my family.
“I will greatly appreciate if NEMA,Kogi State Governnent or other organizations and individuals,with milk of human kindness, could come to my aid in the provision of relief materials.
“The gesture would go a long to ease my pitiable condition caused by flood and enable me to pick pieces of life again, a victims who preferred to be known simply as John,told The Reporters in Gadumo new layout.
Meanwhile, Kogi State Government on said that it was taking proactive steps to ensure that flood victims in Lokoja and other parts of the state were temporarily accommodated.
The Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, Mr.Wemi Jones gave the assurance when he led a team to inspect accommodation facilities at St.Luke Model Schools Adankolo, Lokoja.
Speaking with newsmen after the facility tour, Jones said the essence of the inspection was to ascertain the facilities in the schools that could temporarily accommodate flood victims.
He said the state government wants to ensure that the facilities were conducive for the expected Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and to also notify the schools’ management and staff.
“The purpose of our coming is to get ready for incident of flood ravaging our city; we want to get ourselves ready to manage the crisis and prevent it from becoming a full scale disaster,” Jones said.
The Commissioner of Environment, said the inspection was the continuation of the facility assessment to ensure that places reserved for IDPs were safe to accommodate them.
Omofaiye noted that necessary awareness campaign was earlier carried out on the event of flooding, warning people living in flood prone areas to relocate but regretted that many of the victims did not adhere.
“For now, we cannot ascertain the level of destructions, but I want to let you know that it is actually massive.
”Farm lands have been submerged and properties worth of millions of naira destroyed.
”We are just trying to see how federal and state governments and NGOs can come to the aid of these victims”, he said.
He, therefore, called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Non-governmental organisations to come to the aid of flood victims by providing necessary palliatives to cushion its effects.
Also speaking, the SUBEB Chairman, Suleiman Ndalaye,said management and staff of the selected schools were prepared to receive the flood victims.
According to Ndalaye,the centres have over 50 rooms to accommodate over 10,000 people, adding that security measures had been put in place to ensure safety of lives and property of the people.
