Flood : Agony & sorrow nationwide

The warnings came hard and strong. They sounded urgent and present. Experts were in the media and every communication channel, warning that the rains that would come this year, would not be like any the country had seen in recent memory. They talked about heavy and persistent rains, which would result in baleful of flood. Governments, both at the federal and state levels, trumpeted the promise. But whether they did much to assuage the effect of the imminent catastrophe, was a different thing.

Lagos State, to be sure, did more than talking and warning residents. It went ahead to clear its notorious canals and stepped that up with visitations of flood-prone areas of the state to make sure people responded effectively. Other states were not as diligent. Months after those experts’ warnings and promises, the rains are now here. Have the experts been vindicated? More than so. For, across the country, the waters of the rains have taken over, sacking people from their homesteads and taking over their farmlands. Roads have submerged and bridges collapsed. People have died and animals missing.

It is, for many Nigerians, something akin to a state of war because, majority of the affected are now living as refugees in makeshift shelters. Today, we bring you accounts of this disaster, as it occurred in different parts of the country – the human carnage, the material loss and the effect on the human spirit.

In Delta
From PAUL OSUYI, Asaba

No fewer than 70 coastal communities, spreading across seven local government areas of Delta State, have been submerged by flood as the River Niger has been releasing excess water in the past two weeks. The water level is still rising and more communities are on the danger list. Two human casualties have been recorded so far in the flooding, which started on Monday, September 17. A seven-year-old drowned in Ogbe-Ofu area of Asaba while an eight- year-old girl was washed away in Oko area on September 26. Scores of persons were trapped in the flooded areas as relevant agencies intensified rescue operations.

Besides, economic activities have been adversely affected in the agrarian communities. Farmlands, crops, domestic animals and fishponds were destroyed. Houses have started caving in while property yet to be estimated have been swallowed in the intense flood. The people had resorted to self-help initially, but their efforts were soon overwhelmed as the river continued to surge into upland. Victims, who were lucky to have relocated earlier, abandoned their property at the mercy of flood.

The head office of Nigeria Immigration Service and the council secretariat of Ndokwa East LGA in Aboh, were submerged by the water, which also released snakes and other dangerous reptiles. Although rescue operations were intensified by the Nigerian Red Cross Society, the situation also overwhelmed the rescue agency due to inadequate logistics to evacuate what was left of victims’ property. As a result, secretary of the society, Francis Agarivbie called for reinforcement. Agarivbie said the organisation had already conducted an assessment of the affected communities and urged the state government and donor agencies to donate canoes and boats, stressing the need for urgent evacuation of the residents and their property from the affected areas.

“We are working with the state government and donor agencies on how relief materials can also be sent to the affected communities,” he said, adding that since the flood started, the organisation was making use of hired boats and canoes. Communities worst hit include Aballa-Oshimili, Utchi, Okwumedo, Umuochi, Owelle, Obalu, Obeche, Okpai, Abalagada, Aboh, Abuato, Ugbene, Agwe-Iyom, Ise-Onokpo, Onuobiuku, Umu-Ugbome, Umu-Uti, Afiankwo, Umuolu, Adiai, Utuoku, Oworubia, Wari-Irri, and Onyah. Other communities affected are Aballa-Obodo, Aballa-Uno, Inyi, Umu-Inyagbo, Obeche, Umu-Agwuyam, Isiolu, Umuoga, Ezinyi, Utuke, Ude, Ogigogwe, Ezeagba, Umu-Eche, Ogwasi, Umugwo, Umuazu, Ozala and Onuaboh.

The flood also ravaged Akarai, Azagba, Ekpe, Ibedeni, Osafu, Ase, Asaba-Ase, Onogbokor, Iyede-Ame, Anyama, Oko-Odifulu, Oko-Ogbele, Oko-Anala, Oko-Amakom, Omeligboma Camp, Elenchere Camp, Ogbe-Ofu, Abuta and Akwuebulu, Anwai, Illah, Okwagbe, Uzere, Aviara, Abari, Burutu, Bomadi and Abala-Uno, The affected communities are spread across the seven local government areas of Oshimili South, Oshimili North and Ndokwa East in Delta north, Ughelli South in Delta central as well as Isoko South, Bomadi and Burutu in Delta south. A resident in Oko area of Oshimili South LGA, Elder Chris Anana told Saturday Sun that the agrarian communities were counting their losses as the flood came calling at a time close to the harvest season.

“In the upper land, the yams, cassava, plantain will start coming out in September/October. But come and see what flood did, it covered the whole place, no more land, there is no place to even trek, we now use canoe for movement. “Do you know that they go and borrow money to buy yams for planting and their hope is that by September/October, they would sell their yams and repay their loans? Let me say millions of naira had been washed away,” Anana said. According to Anana, “they told me that in 1914, it was a big flood and it did not happen again till after the civil war. However, no flood has ever occurred in Oko to this extent of displacing residents.

We have never relocated; we have not even left Oko for anywhere else as a result of flood. It is most disappointing.” The tale was not different in Elenchere Camp, a farm settlement in the neighbourhood of Asaba. Paul Chidozie, who spoke on behalf of the settlement, informed the newspaper that over one thousand houses in the area have been submerged, adding that the building had started giving way. “The flood is too heavy and the damage is too much to bear. We do not know if the government will allow us to die, all our food is damaged, nothing to eat, no place to lay our head, in fact we are hopeless. Government should come to our rescue,” Chidozie said.

“The camp with over 1000 houses,” he continued, “has been seriously affected. There is no place to settle, houses are collapsing, the people are stranded, they don’t know where to go. We are taking refuge at the Okpu-Elenchere Primary School but very soon the flood will get there, you can see that they are stranded. Animals, farm produce, fish ponds, crops and all that have been destroyed.” Anthony Udalor, a landlord in the distraught community, was in a confused state as his house was submerged in waters. He said his family like every other one in the area had resorted to self-help by erecting make-shift structures where they suspend their properties even as they continued to wait on government for succour. Delta State Comptroller of NIS, Mr. Ishiaka Hamad told Saturday Sun that saving the lives of his officers was his top most priority.

“I cannot risk the lives of my officers. Snakes have taken over the place, even in my own office, there are snakes everywhere. The snakes must have come from the swamps,” Hamad stated as he was supervising the evacuation of properties from the submerged building. “The property we can lay our hands on, we pick out, the ones we are not able to savage we leave. So, we are only savaging the important equipment like passport equipment, booklets that we have collected,” he further stated. Although Saturday Sun witnessed the movement of property, including fridges, air-conditioners, files, cameras, television sets, computer sets, printers, fans, furniture sets, photocopiers, electronic gadgets, booklets and others to upland, the NIS boss described the effect of the flood as colossal.

“The extent of damage is too bad; you can see that half of the offices are submerged completely. One cannot quantify the damage in terms of naira and kobo but we have suffered a colossal loss both in material and in equipment,” he revealed. Ogbe-Ofu, a suburb of Asaba, was a hitherto a densely populated area but the place is now a shadow of itself as residents have completely deserted the neighbourhood just as the flood continues to chase them. “We abandoned our residential apartment and relocated to this shop where we carry out our economic activities but the water also came here. Now we are stranded, no place to sleep, we can’t raise money to buy food. The properties we suspended with blocks are beginning to give way,”

Mrs. Ada Onyemeachi, a hairstylist lamented. Most sympathetic was the tale of Madam Dorothy Okpara who was said to be her 80s. She had been rendered homeless by the flood as her mould house has caved in. Speaking through an interpreter, Madam Okpara said she came from a journey to meet the helpless situation, adding that she had no other place to take refuge. As at the time of filing this report, about 350 displaced victims were taking refuge at a temporal camp in St. Patrick’s College, Asaba at the expense of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Their resettlement followed visits to some of the affected areas by the Special Emergency Committee set up by the state government to mitigate the effects of the flooding on residents. The state Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama is the chairman of the committee and he was said to have directed the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to make schools available as temporal refugee camp for the displaced persons. However, the committee could not access the flooded communities in Isoko South LGA as the water took over every available space on theUzere-Asaba-Ase road, a situation that forced the committee to a beat a retreat and promised to assess the extent of damage with helicopter.

According to the deputy governor, “the situation is very bad and deserves urgent action to get to people who are in the riverine communities to assess their situation as there have been calls that some of the communities have been submerged.” Prof. Amos Utuama, SAN, who is chairman of the State Government’s Special Emergency Committee on Flood Disaster Management described the disaster as overwhelming and has called for the intervention of the relevant federal agencies. The Chairman of Uzere Community, Mr. Believe Odugo stated that so many people were displaced at Uzere community and called for urgent assistance for the people to enable them to cope with the situation.

In Benue, it’s canoe to the rescue

From ROSE EJEMBI, Makurdi They were habitable residences with families living inside them. That was until recently when the flood came, sacked the occupants and took over their homes. Now these houses are submerged while their former occupants are taking refuge in camps which are established by the Benue State government to cater to those who were displaced by the flood. Even though the North Central Zonal Coordinator of National emergency Management agency (NEMA), Mr. Abdulsalam Mohammed said at the last count, 15 communities, spread across the state, had been affected by the flood, more communities are daily being submerged.

Some of the newly submerged areas are villages along the Makurdi/ Gboko Road, close to the Air Force Base, while a portion of the major road linking Makurdi to Tarka, Gboko as well as about seven other Tiv local government areas, have been overtaken by the flood. Zaki Adev Serser Francis, 57, is the New Bridge Traditional Head controlling Kongba Community. He is one of the many families whose houses were washed away by the raging flood which ravaged Benue and many other states in the country.

Aside losing his entire compound and farmland to the flood, the traditional head also claimed to have lost a daughter, Dooshima to the flood. Narrating his ordeal to Saturday Sun at the LGEA Primary School, Wurukum, one of the designated camps for displaced persons in the state where, he is now taking refuge with his family together with hundreds of other families who were displaced by the rising Benue River water, Chief Adev said, after the water started rising, his daughter, Dooshima, a mother of four children came and informed him that she saw flood coming towards their compound but that she would hurriedly go to the farm to harvest some maize.

“My daughter, Dooshima came one day and told me that she saw plenty water coming towards our compound but that she would quickly go to the farm to harvest some maize and I bade her bye-bye. Sadly, my daughter could not come back again. She got drowned in the flood. I lost her as she died, leaving four children behind for me to cater for.” Zaki Adev said when he saw the rate at which the flood was coming, he had to quickly move some of his belongings and his other children to an open space close to the Wurukum round-about until he heard an announcement on the state radio that the state government had established camps for displaced people.

While thanking the state and Federal Government for the help rendered all displaced persons so far, Zaki Adev, however, appealed to the state and federal government to help him resettle after the flood must have gone down explaining that he no longer has any house or farmland to return to after the flood as his compound and farmlands have all been washed away. Corroborating Zaki Adev’s story, Zonal Coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in charge of North Central, Mr. Abdusalam Mohammed who described the extent of the flood in Benue as massive said only one casualty was recorded while 15 communities were washed away by the flood.

Mohammed attributed the cause of the flood to the release of water from the Ladgo Dam in Cameroun, torrential rainfall and global warming, adding that the flood is very devastating for Benue State in particular since it is one of the frontline states along the Benue River. Some of the areas seriously affected within Makurdi metropolis include Kutcha Utebe, Gyado Villa, Wadata Rice Mill, Abbattoir, New Bridge, Angwan Jukun, Benue State Golf Course as well as Judges Quarters Extension.

The water Works portion of University of Agriculture, Makurdi as well as that of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital were also affected. At the Kutcha Utebe area of the metropolis where the flood was first sighted in Makurdi, several houses were submerged up to the roof level leaving occupants with no other option than to salvage what was left of their belongings and look for alternative places of abode elsewhere in town.

People had to adopt the use of canoes in Kutcha Utebe, Wadata Rice Mill and Gyado Villa to be able evacuate their belongings while criminals have also been having a field day as they have allegedly invaded affected buildings removing air conditioners and electrical fittings. Dangerous animals such as crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles have also taken over the abandoned buildings while unconfirmed reports said hippopotamus have been sighted in some parts of the flood ravaged areas.

This development left most of the residents stranded until the state Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam visited the area for an on- the-spot assessment of the flood. The governor, who sympathized with the victims, enjoined them to remain calm as what had happened was a natural occurrence, which is not peculiar to the state alone. The governor, who visited in company with the Commissioner of Water Resources and Environment, Hon. John Ngbede and the state SEMA boss, Adikpo Agbatse, also promised to provide a temporary place of abode for the people; a promise which he has since fulfilled with the opening of four camps for the rising number of displaced persons within Makurdi.

The camps are LGEA Primary School, Wurukum, St. Catherine’s Primary School, Wurukum, NKST Primary School, Wadata and LGEA Primary School, Wadata. The governor also called on the Federal Government, corporate organisations, donor agencies and well meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the displaced persons with a view to alleviating their predicament. This call has since been heeded as various non-governmental organizations, UNICEF, and prominent indigenes of the state including the Senate President, Senator David mark, Interior Minister, Comrade Abba Moro, Minister of State (Trade and Investment) Chief Samuel Ortom, Senator Barnabas Gemade, among others, have visited the designated camps to encourage the people as well as donate relief materials.

While relief materials have continued to pour in, some of the displaced persons including Mr. Tyongbea Paul, Mr. Emmanuel Tyonum, Mrs. Janet Okoru and Mrs. Titi Mohammed have called on the federal and state governments to, as a matter of urgency, look into the dredging of the River Benue to forestall future occurrence.

In Edo, it’s God’s punishment, says village head

From OLALEKAN BADMOS, Benin

Edo was among the states across the nation predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency to witness torrential rainfall in the latter part of 2012. Owan West and East local government areas were specifically mentioned as areas to experience heavy downpour. This, they said, was as a result of the global meltdown being experienced worldwide. It was apparent that the agency did not foresee that the River Niger would overflow its banks, culminating in flash flood cross several states, including Edo. Edo south senatorial district, particularly Benin City, was known for flooding in the past. But it appears the floodwater control effort of Governor Adams Oshiomhole has checked that to a reasonable extent.

The devastating flood that followed the overflowing of River Niger caught thousands of people living in communities situated along the Niger River bank by surprise. The affected local government areas are Etsako Central, Etsako East and Esan South West and Esan South East. Chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Edo State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr. Donald Boih were among several highly placed individuals who lost their houses to the devastating flood that submerged over 20 communities in the four local government areas of the state.

Also washed away by the flood is the N2 billion-Ekperi/Anegbette road being constructed by Edo State government. Some of the affected communities included Anegbette, Udaba, Osomegbe, Agbafu, Udochi, all in Estako Central. They were completely cut off by the flood and are only accessible by canoe. Five persons, including two children, were reportedly killed by the flood in one of the riverine villages of Etsako Central. In Estako East, Agenebode and neighbouring villages were completely submerged, while Illushi, Urhowa and Inyelen in Esan South East also suffered devastating effects of the flood.

Displaced persons from the flood devastated areas are presently taking refuge in secondary and primary schools, while others went to live with their relatives in neighbouring villages. Tony Leonard, a resident who was affected by the flood water, said vehicles were brought to evacuate persons from Udaba. But he reported that many residents refused to leave, insisting on harvesting their crops and saving their livestock, which were however washed away by the flood. Chief David Inatape, head of Udaba village, who was among those presently taking refuge at the Alaoye Primary School, attributed the flood to the punishment from God.

“I cannot leave my people here like this. This is where I am now sleeping. If it is death, we will all die together. There is no water or food. The water is spreading fast. We also need doctors,” he said. In other areas, the ravaging flood, which has taken over 20 communities with a population of over 500,000 persons, destroyed virtually everything in the affected areas, including buildings, household property and food crops in their farmlands. At the Ekperi Grammar School, Ugbekpe Ekperi, there are over 60,000 refugees from Yuluwa, Ofukpo, Agbabu, Iguzi-Ofukpe, Udaba, Unudoboh, Udaba-Ogho, Anegette all in Etsako Central.

The palace of the Daudu of Usumegbe, Chief John Musa and that of the village head of Udaba Chief David Inetape are among the buildings that have been submerged in the flood. Agenebode, the headquarters of Etsako East Local Government Area and its surrounding villages, have also been taken over by the flood, while Ilushi, Urho, Urhowa and Inyelen in Esan South East Local Government Area have completely been destroyed by the flood with the entire people moved to Ubiaja the council headquarters. Narrating his ordeal, one of the affected persons, Alhaji Sedenu Mohammed, said he fled his Udochi community with his two wives and seven children without salvaging even a pin from his house, saying he was only lucky to move his family away from the ravaging flood which he said took them unawares.

Meanwhile, public-spirited individuals have started sending relief materials to the displaced persons to ameliorate their plight. To address the immediate needs of victims of the flood, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole last Sunday ordered the immediate release of N100 million to provide relief materials for them. He also assured that government will look for a long-term solution to avoid a re-occurrence in the future, adding that the state government will liaise with the Federal Government to get relief for the displaced persons.

Oshiomhole gave this assurance when he visited the displaced persons and the flooded communities. He noted that the natural disaster caused by the overflowing of the River Niger has led to the loss of property worth billions of naira in the state. “What has happened is an act of God and no one can challenge the will of God. In other parts of the country, we have heard of the loss of lives, but so far we have not recorded any death. Let us pray that the river goes back to its boundary,” Oshiomhole noted. He assured that Edo State government will try as much as possible to reduce the hardship suffered by the people by providing relief materials.

Governor Oshiomhole had to ride in a canoe to get to some of the affected communities to see for himself the extent of damage done by the flood. He admonished them to remain faithful that the calamity will soon be over to enable them to return to their fatherland. Senator Obende Domingo representing the district at the Senate, who was on the governor’s entourage, urged the Federal Government to set up a well-equipped disaster management agency that would adequately respond to such unfortunate situation. Meanwhile, two persons have been confirmed dead from an outbreak of chicken pox in one of the six refuge camps set up in Edo North to accommodate victims of the flood occasioned by an overflow from the River Niger that sacked over 10 communities in four local government areas of the state last weekend.

The two victims, who were said to be children below 15 years of age, died as a result of exposure to extreme cold in the camp, after being weakened by the chicken pox. Edo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Cordelia Aiwize, disclosed this during her assessment visit to the six camps set up for the displaced flood victims located within the two local governments.

The commissioner confirmed that the state government has swung into action to curtail looming epidemic following the suspected outbreak of cholera, malaria and other water-borne diseases. The Health Commissioner, who assured the victims of government intervention, promised not to let them down in the face of the challenges, which she noted were no fault of theirs.

In Kaduna, it’s a tale of loss and dislocation 

From NOAH EBIJE, Kaduna

A man, a hotelier in Kano ran away from the commercial city at the instance of the rampaging Boko Haram. He left for Kaduna with his family. Since the movement he has been shuttling between the two cities to attend to his hospitality business on one hand and his family on the other hand. The man, Daniel (not real name) from Edo State had secured accommodation for his family within Mamman Kontagora Housing estate, along Barnawa road, opposite College of Environmental Science, Kaduna Polytechnic in the metropolis. However, no sooner had he resettled his family in the estate overlooking river Kaduna, than the September flood came and submerged the two-bed room apartment.

Consequently, he had to move his family again to another location within the city. When he finally packed to another house, he heaved: “My brother, I’m tired of this North, it is not long I brought my family from Kano because of Boko Haram crisis, and here in Kaduna, flood has taken over our house as we are about to settle down, I just moved to another house again here in Barnawa area of Kaduna.” Communities affected by flood in Kaduna include Makarfi, Airforce, Katunga, Ambassador and Ononiwu, all in Abubakar Kigo Road new extension area of Kaduna metropolis as well as Rafin Guza, popularly referred to as Legislative Quarters in Ungwan Dosa area of the state capital.

Another affected areas include Malali, Ungwan Rimi and Gobarau areas of the city, just about 100 metres away from the private house of Vice President Namadi Sambo as well as Bachama Road in Tudun Wada, Nassarawa, Kabala Doki, Mamman Kontagora housing estate areas of Kaduna metropolis. It is now a common sight in places affected by the flood to see a retinue of okada riders (commercial motorcyclists) watching and wondering how it was possible for most of the streets they used on daily basis for their transport business to become a no-go area over night because of flood.

“I take passengers through this street every day,” a rider, Suleiman, pointed at one of the flooded streets. “But since this flood came I cannot go through it again, he added. During the flooding, the occupants of the affected areas had no option but to take refuge in churches and school buildings, just as most landlords said they had no place to go other than to hang around and safeguard their homes.

Some displaced persons relocated to the premises of Grace Baptist Church and other churches along Kigo Road as well as primary school premises in the area. Some of the affected persons, who spoke to Saturday Sun, narrated their ordeals and blamed the state government for allocating the areas for residential purposes, knowing full well that they are flood-prone zones. Elizaberth John (Widow) who looked confused and dejected said: “The flood started gradually in the night, and by morning, it came up fully, and we started packing out because the water entered our house.

We left the house to go and sleep somewhere else. But, based on government’s warning, we vacated here but after a week, there was no flood, so we came back to the house, only to fall victim of the flood. We have moved our property to the premises of Grace Baptist Church here in Kigo Road.” A journalist, Chimizie Enyocha, who resides in the area, said that, “from my own estimation, over 200 houses are affected in this area. But I am so disappointed at the attitude of the State Emergency Management Agency because I expected its officials to visit the flood site early enough.

You can see the number of people affected; most of them have evacuated their property, some are homeless now as I talk to you. “So, we expected government agency to come and give a kind of temporary relief to the displaced persons; some of them carrying one-year-old babies, some women carrying pregnancies. We are calling on the state government to find permanent solution to this problem because it was government that sold these lands to innocent landlords to build houses here.” Oscar Donjustin said: “We have been receiving report from the radio, television news that there will be flood, so we decided to send our families to somewhere else.

We are just waiting for an emergency relief from government agencies to alleviate the situation.” Abdulrazak, who gave a helping hand to his relation said: “ Government has been saying that people should vacate the area without providing alternative accommodation for them. If you are asking people to vacate, there should be alternative arrangement for them, but there is nothing like that here. Where will my cousin go after he had paid N200,000 for accommodation?

The irony is that government knows that this is flood area, but it continues to sell the land to the people. Government shouldn’t have sold this place since it is prone to flood almost on yearly basis.” Another resident, Christy said: “My house is very close to the flood, though the water has not entered my house, I have to be at alert, and that is why I could not go to work. I am surprised that government sold out this place for residential purpose because it is a flood zone. And in government, we have professionals like Town Planners, Estate Surveyors; we have Ministry of Land.

They shouldn’t have sold this place for residential purposes. If they have made mistake to sell the place, they have made an alternative for people to go in like what is happening in Syria, there are tents for victims of flood disasters. But here in Nigeria, there are no tents. So, what did government do? There was news on television and radio that people should leave here, and I ask, to leave and go where? I am not going anywhere, I will keep vigil over my house, and that means a lot of inconvenience for me. Government should at least give us an accommodation even if it is school buildings.”

Former Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kaduna State, Daniel Bissalah said: “The only way to prevent future occurrence of flood of this magnitude is for government to talk to people who are working and operating dams to take caution when they are opening up their dams because most of these dams, when they are filled, water is released from them so that the dams don’t break. It is in the process of this opening up that you see most places being flooded. Though there was an alert in most parts of the state, government should look for some mechanism to block some of these things because this flood is affecting some lives and property.”

And for the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of SEMA, Abubakar Zakari Adamu: “So far, about 178 houses are affected, and the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency has ordered communities residing along Abubakar Kigo Road in Kaduna North Local Government, Rafinguza area and Nassarawa in Chikun Local Government Area to immediately evacuate the areas as a result of unprecedented water level at the River Kaduna which may possibly result to dangerous flooding.

“The agency has since notified the affected persons in prone areas of possible flooding so as to enable them to take precautionary measure by relocating from such areas. It, therefore, advised the residents to move to the high grounds for the safety of their lives and property.” Our findings revealed that rent in the affected areas has crashed because, according to a housing agent, Chris Nwokolo, “we have no option but to reduce the rent fee because people are running from the place and no new tenants want to go there. For example, we used to charged N150,000 for one bedroom flat, but it is now N100,000 because of what the environment has turned to, over the years. But for the landlord, they have no place to park to, where will they park to?

Even as we reduce the rent fee, nobody is ready to take up the accommodation and I don’t blame them because where there is no safety, there is no life.” One of the landlords, Simeon Asom explained: “Government cannot move us away from here because this is not the first time we are witnessing flood here, except that they said this one came from a broken dam in far away Cameroon. However, we are appealing to government to ensure the place is well safeguarded against future occurrence.

We are doing our best to make accommodation cheaper for our tenants because of the flood, but even at that, which tenant will stay in a house that is inside water, even if it is given free of charge?” Meanwhile, the only concern the state government has shown so far about the flood and its devastating effect is that River Kaduna, the channel of the flood be dredged. The state Governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, called for the dredging of the river to avert future occurrence.

Yakowa made the call after an aerial assessment tour of the affected areas in company with Minister for Environment, Hadiza Mailafiya, the Minister for Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe as well as the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Sani Sidi. The tour to Kaduna was part of the responsibility of the technical committee set up by the Federal Government to assess and determine the extent of damage by flood in parts of the country.

According to Yakowa, silting of the river and building of structures by the river bank, has over the years affected its free flow as well as made the river to take other courses in the form of tributaries that flow out as against flowing into the river. He stressed that after the rainy season, the state Ministries of Works and Transport, Environment and other relevant agencies would be constituted into a committee to check on people who erected structures where they are not supposed to, adding that necessary action would be taken to correct the anomaly.

Most of the bridges are gone in Oyo State

From GBENGA ADESUYI, Ibadan

About 15 bridges linking communities with the rest of the city collapsed and were submerged by the ravaging flood occasioned by torrential rainfall. These occurred in Ibadan and other parts of the state during the last flood disaster. In Oyo town for instance, five bridges caved in, forcing many motorists and commuters, subjecting to economic and social hardships.

Ajourney, which usually takes less than an hour, now takes frustrating hours, thus forcing motorists to abandon their vehicles at home to join commercial motorcycles popularly called okada or tricycles. The 15 affected bridges/roads are Arulogun, Davies hotel, Ogbere, Moradeyo, Jembewon, Salami Estate, Onipepeye, Orita Apeerin/Sawmill, Rhema Oluyole, Abonde and Apete. Others, which are located in Oyo, include Anwar l Islam, Koso, Oroki, Odejin and Jare Emilly.

The tragic flood frustrated the efforts of the state government which had embarked on dredging of streams and rivers on which the bridges went across. It was meant to avert the repeat of August 26, 2011 flood disaster in the city in which many lives were lost and property worth billions of Naira destroyed. Initially, there was no human casualty but three days after, bodies of three victims, including that of a policeman, were found at Dandaru river.

The plight of Apete residents got worsened as the makeshift pedestrian bridge constructed in the aftermath of 2011 flood, was submerged in the recent flooding incident. In a fit of anger and frustration, Governor Abiola Ajimobi announced the revocation of the contract for the reconstruction of the major bridge – which has been under construction since 2011 – over slow pace of work by the contractor.

The state Commissioner for Works, Mr. Yunus Akintunde, while reacting to damage, said the state government has taken note of the damage. “Our engineers are out inspecting and assessing what needs to be done but we have no power to award any fresh contract without going through due process and the big question is: Do we even have the money to face something of this magnitude?”

He said, from the stocktaking of the damage arising from 2011 flood disaster in Ibadan, about N19 billion will be required for reconstruction and rehabilitation. According to him, government has already committed a substantial sum of money to building and rehabilitating 68 roads and bridges across the state, in addition to dredging 43 rivers and streams.

A World Bank N200 million emergency relief assistance promised after the calamity is also yet to materialize. “After the August 26, 2011 flood, the President came here to see things for himself and at the end of the visit, promised assistance, but up till now that I’m talking to you, no Kobo has been given to us,” he said.

Source: Sun