Flooding: FG sends delegates to Cameroun, laments 600 Nigerians killed, 1.3 million others displaced

Nigeria has lost over 600 people and 1.3 million others displaced within 10 months as floods spread more havoc and sorrow across the country.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, gave the figures on Sunday while giving an update on the national flooding disaster at a press conference.

The minister said the Federal Government had sent delegation to Cameroon on the periodic opening of Lagdo Dam which was affecting Nigeria.

Specifically, she said 1,302,589 persons had been displaced; 2,407 suffered different degrees of injuries, 82,053 houses and 332,327 hectares of farmlands completely damaged.

She also warned that Anambra, Delta, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa states were still at risk of experiencing floods up to the end of November.

The minister, who faulted the lackadaisical attitude of some state and local governments in response to flood warning, appealed to them to invest in flood management.

“While we mourn the unfortunate boat mishap in Anambra and other locations, please, we must note that we are not completely out of the woods,” Farouq said.

She said the Nigerian Meteorological Agency had warned that states such as Anambra, Delta, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa were still at the risk of experiencing floods up till end of November.

“So, we are calling on the respective State Governments, LGAs and communities to prepare by evacuating people living on flood plains to high grounds, providing tents and relief materials, fresh water as well as medical supply for possible outbreak of water borne disease.”

Also, the leader of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, has accused the Federal Government of abandoning victims in the Niger Delta.

The elder statesman regretted that he was not in a position to visit the victims like he did in 2012 due to age to encourage them.

He said, “The Federal Government seems to be nonchalant over the plight of citizens in the Niger Delta. For instance, in Bayelsa State, there is a palpable case of humanitarian crisis. Most communities of the state, including majority parts of Yenagoa, the state capital, are under water. The people of the state, who do not have where to go to, have resorted to some crude accommodation of pinning sticks inside the water, with a platform which they use as bed, made up of cellophane bags.

“There is starvation in the land; no water for the people to drink; the state is cut off from all sources that supply food to her, even electricity supply, has been cut off.

“The people now live in their homes with reptiles and other animals, whether aquatic, terrestrial or amphibian, which now drag spaces with humans in their homes, because these animals have also been displaced from their natural habitation because of the flood. It is a scary situation, as this exposes the people to danger.The Federal Government has not done anything to reduce the plight and suffering of the people.”

The elder statesman noted that NEMA, established to handle disaster management, had not visited the flood victims in the states of the Niger Delta.

“One would have even expected that 10 years after the last disaster flood that ravaged the country in 2012, a responsible government, which swore to an oath, to see to the welfare of the people, would by now, have taken steps to alleviate the sufferings, by building the Lagdo Dam in Benue State, instead of blaming Cameroonian Government.

“This attitude of not caring, reminds me of what happened some time ago. Billions of naira was voted to dredge the River Niger, during the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) days, but today, there is no sign of dredging in Bayelsa and Delta states.

“I challenge the Muhammadu Buhari’s government to name any development it has carried out in the Niger Delta region, with exception of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.

“Today, the construction of the East-West Road, which began over 10 years ago to the embarrassment and shame of all of us, has not been completed. The road is being threatened. People cannot pass a section of it easily, either to go to Port Harcourt or return, from Bayelsa State, due to the ravaging flood.

“I enjoin these Federal Government bodies to act fast and sincerely. And should ensure that if relief items are provided, they will actually reach the right people for whom it is meant.

“The Federal Government should please act fast. A great disaster is looming.”

Meanwhile, the ever busy Ughelli-Asaba road has been severed at seven different spots at Ellu, Aradhe, Obetim, Obikwele, Iselegu, Ossissa before Nsukwa junction. It was also discovered that part of the East-West Road and Asaba-Ugbolu road were also flooded.

The development has rendered more households within the affected axis homeless.