The Kogi State Government has described the situation with flooding in the State as devastating.
Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, disclosed this while speaking to TVC News on the flooding in the State.
He added that 9 Local Governments within the State have bee devastated by the flood.
He commended the Federal government on the response to the disaster so far and added that NEMA has put in place a lot of measures to ameliorate the situation.
On whether the State had prior warning of the disaster, Mr Fanwo said the State was informed of the impending flooding but said it is even much more difficult than anybody could have envisaged.
Read Excerpts Below…
It’s a very devastating situation here in Kogi State the flood has really ravaged nine local government areas that are currently underwater. In Kogi State you could see that it has virtually blocked also the Abuja Lokoja highway so it’s a very difficult one for the people of the state right now, The Flood has sacked the entire local government. There is no community in the Kotonkarfi local government that’s not underwater so to speak. Farmlands have been destroyed, fish farms destroyed and it’s very difficult for the victims of the flood right now in Kogi state.
Bilateral relationship between countries falls on the foreign affairs and foreign affairs is on the exclusive list so it’s not responsible for Kogi State to have such conversations with countries where these dams are situated but federal government signed an agreement recently with those countries so they said that the countries where those dams are located should always inform those that are likely going to be affected by the flood waters before they release those waters. So if there was an existing agreement there is an existing agreement between the federal government of Nigeria and those countries whether that agreement was or not or not something that would be subject for that interrogation. But what we are facing right now in Kogi state is a very tough one.
Yes, definitely. Regulatory authorities inform the states of imminent flooding and we prepared for that. While we’re even waiting for the federal government to do embankments along River Nigeria, they should know that Kogi State is going to be the center point of the flooding being the confluence of two of Africa’s biggest river, River Niger and River Benue. So it’s something that we expected and we’re preparing for that. As we’re waiting for the government to put the embankment along the banks of Thees rivers. We decided to do the embankment on our own because it’s the government, but when the flood water has come, you wouldn’t know the magnitude of the floodwater that is going to come. We also prepared for the emergency by activating our IDP account so that those accepted be able to move there. We embarked on massive sensitisation and orientation of people to leave flood prone areas to areas that are safe.
It’s a very difficult one, but it is something that we have to continue to do because it is a responsibility of the government to ensure that the people of the state are protected from the flood. So we ensure that. We did a lot of orientation. It’s difficult for people to leave their ancestral homes, but when you just have to that with the need to be safe, they will have to do that.
They can always come back after what I would have gone quickly.
Thank you very much. I want to use this opportunity to commend the National Emergency Management Agency for the wonderful job they’ve done in Kogi State.
So far. They’ve been able to provide for the needs of victims who are in IDP camps. They’ve also brought a water purifying facility for the people because a lot of diseases, apart from being displaced from their homes, they are backing with a lot of waterborne diseases also. So we have activated our health authorities, our environmental authorities to be able to come in also. We have also been able to secure people who are in IDP camps. Semi also has done a lot of work synergizing with NEMA to ensure that people get at least the minimum comfort that they deserve. We also expect that in the coming weeks the flood will go down a bit and that will be able to give room for the after the post flood intervention.
