Flood: Stakeholders Blame Riverine Communities for Annual Losses

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Stakeholders at a meeting organised by the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) in Minna yesterday have accused some riverine communities of causing the huge human and material losses during flooding annually.

The stakeholders claimed that after receiving compensations and support from governments and non-governmental organisations for property previously destroyed always returned to construct their houses less than 100 meters from the rivers exposing them to flood next time

In addition, the stakeholders said some farmers who were compensated for the loss of their farms during one flood season returned to the same spots in another farming season in order to collect another round of compensations.

The stakeholders also claimed that most of the people in riverine areas refused to relocate upland because of the compensation they receive from government.

One of the stakeholders and the Area Manager of the Nigerian Inland Water Ways in charge of Niger and Kwara States, Mr. Akapo Adeboye, lamented that the development is responsible for the huge cost government had to commit to flood victims and compensations every year.

However, Akapo said ahead of the flood prediction for the year, the organisation had procured and stationed a water boat ambulance in the river banks in the Niger South senatorial zone, adding that the organisation is finding it difficult to plan for the Niger East because of insecurity.

Speaking in a similar vein, the Niger State Deputy Governor, Yakubu Garba, who was the guest of honour at the meeting, said the amount government was spending annually on flood victims “ is increasing year in year out thereby stretching the scarce resources of the government.”

Garba, who was represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Alhaji Bello Ibrahim, however, declared that: “The government is determined to reducing the impact of flood to the barest minimum. We must all be prepared for disaster.”

The Director-General of NSEMA, Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, in his address, disclosed that sensitisation of the people in the state has begun on radio and other means of communications.

Arah urged community leaders to assist by carrying the message to their people.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) in the flood prediction for 2024 had listed Niger State among the 25 of the 36 states of the federation that will be prone to flooding in this year’s rainy season.