Over 500 lives have been lost, more than 1.4 million persons affected and over 90,000 homes destroyed by flood.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has disclosed in Abuja, yesterday.
Represented by the Director of Humanitarian Department, Ali Grema, she said: “As a matter of fact, the scale of devastation can only be compared to the 2012 floods. More than 500 lives have been lost, more than 1.4 million persons affected, about 90,000 homes either partially or completely destroyed; and still counting.
“And also destroyed are thousands of hectares of farmland; thus, worsening fears of a disruption of food supply in Africa’s most populous country. These widespread cases are in 27 out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“So, as we reflect on the present flood situation in Nigeria, let’s consider the focus of the 2022 IDDRR.
“Did we not have enough warnings or was our predictions and flood outlook wrong? Did we not act enough to prevent or mitigate what we’re confronted with today?
“While we shall not apportion blames, we need to acknowledge the fact that we all had enough warning and our advocacy was timely.
“However, communities must recognise that all disaster are local and they must take climate predictions and flood outlooks warnings seriously. We can’t outrightly eliminate flood but we can keep people safe. That responsibility is collectively ours.”
Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed, said 12,000 tons of grains had been released to the 24 affected states.
Ayakoro settlement in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State has been submerged leaving no fewer than three people dead.
Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayibaina Duba, confirmed the incident while commiserating with the families of the victims.
Paramount ruler of the community, Righteous Inegbagha, called on the federal and state governments to take urgent steps to mitigate the impacts of the flood on the people.
He said the flood disaster had not only rendered thousands of his subjects homeless, but had also affected their sources of livelihood, with other economic activities also paralysed.
“Our people cannot visit their farms due to the ravaging effects of the disaster,” he said.
Inegbagha expressed regret that for over a week, people of the community had been residing in their water-logged houses.
He emphasised the need for government to provide relief materials, such as food, clothes and drugs for the affected people, adding that they should be evacuated to temporary camps to save them and their property. The traditional ruler said his palace, which used to play host to some of the victims, had now been made inhabitable due to over-crowding and lack of enough space.
•Stop blames games -TUC tells govt
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has challenged governments, at all levels, to compensate victims of the floods that have claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed property worth billions of naira.
In a statement, Festus Osifo, national president, expressed sympathy with the working class and their families for the losses resulting from the floods that have ravaged 33 of the country’s 36 states and submerged infrastructure like schools, hospitals, police stations, and offices.
He advised the government to take climate change seriously and work on meeting minimum international requirements to tackle it.
According to the statement; “over 40,000 homes have been destroyed and the nation’s food security threatened.
TUC insists that such a growing level of devastation ought to have elicited emergency responses in the entire country, which would have saved its citizens the pains, anguish and embarrassment they are currently subjected to. The poor, working people and their families are always vulnerable to the inactions of the government.
“It is true that the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency had warned against high amount of rainfall in September 2022 which may trigger floods in some states. It is also a fact that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) gave similar warnings, but governments, at all levels, did not put preventive or, at best, control measures in place but rather devoted all energies to political activities at the expense of governance.
“The Federal Government blaming state governments for allegedly ignoring the letters of the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, informing them of the impending floods, is at this time unhelpful. What the country needs is a synergy by the three tiers of government to quickly come to the rescue of the displaced by immediately providing temporary shelter, warm clothing, food and medical supplies not just for the immediate, but also to combat the post-flood water borne diseases that have become inescapable.”