Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Flash floods from River Niger have submerged over 70 communities and displaced over 50,000 people from their houses in different parts of Kogi State.
Residents of some of the communities who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Thursday said that the communities had experienced massive flooding in the last five days.
They said at a stakeholders’ meeting that the flood had wreaked havoc in the affected areas.
The one-day meeting was organised by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in partnership with the Kogi State Emergency Management Agency (KOSEMA).
A resident, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who is also the Desk Officer in charge of ecological and emergency matters in Kogi Local Government Council, said that 66 communities were submerged by flood in the area.
Abdullahi said that over 50,000 people had been forced to evacuate their homes and were now being accommodated in schools, filling stations and other makeshift buildings.
He said that some of the victims in Edeha and Koton Karfe communities had been sleeping on roads and other open places. He said that schools had been closed as they had been converted to temporary camps for the victims, calling for urgent intervention from the government and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
He said that the victims had lost their means of livelihood as their farms and livestock were also washed away by the rampaging floods.
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