17th August, 2019
Several houses have been submerged and many people rendered homeless following flood from rainfall in the early hours of Saturday in Minna township, Niger.
Alhaji Ahmed Inga, Director-General of the state Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) disclosed this to newsmen in Minna on Saturday.
He said that the alleged death of three persons was yet to be confirmed as assessment was still ongoing by officials.
He noted that 75 percent of the flood disaster was caused by indiscriminate refuse disposal and building of houses on waterways in the affected areas.
“Right now, an unconfirmed report noted that three persons died during the flood.
“However, we are yet to ascertain the number of displaced persons affected because our men are still going around carrying out assessment.
“We have been giving warnings for people to seek professional advice before building, but unfortunately, people don’t adhere to the warnings until disaster happens,” he said.
Inga debunked allegation that the flood was caused by spillage of water from Bosso Dam, saying that the flooding was as a result of high intensity of rainfall.
Also, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso, Acting Governor of the state, who visited the affected areas to sympathies with the victims, said that government was making efforts to construct drainage within Minna township to avoid floodings.
He appealed to people to see the flood as natural disaster, adding that government would intervene with immediate effect to cushion the effect of the flood on victims.
Ketso directed the state Ministry of Environment to commence sensitisation for people to desist from dumping refuse and building of structures on waterways.
Malam Abubakar Mohammed, a resident of Mypa Junction in Bosso Local Government, said that he saw a woman being flown by flood and was calling for help.
“At around 4:00 a.m when we started seeing the flood, I came outside and I saw a woman being carried away by the flood calling for help, but unfortunately I couldn’t help her because of the volume of the water.
“I looked across and I noticed that the bridge on Okada to Mypa road had collapsed, when I came close, I saw a crocodile, maybe it was flown from Bosso dam,” he said.
He appealed to the government to reconstruct the collapsed bridge with immediate effect to ease movement of people.
Similarly, Malam Adamu Rijau, a resident of Bosso Estate, who noted that most of the affected houses in the area were built on waterways, called on government to step in and stop all lands allocation on waterways.
Also, Alhaji Inuwa Bawa, Ward Head of Dutsen Kura Hausa, disclosed that seven houses were completely washed away in the area.
He called on the government to intervene and construct concrete drainage in the area to avoid reoccurrence.
Malam Sanusi Mohammed, resident of Dutsen Kura Hausa, said the area experienced flooding every year, adding that the previous administration had promised to intervene, but nothing had been done.
Among areas affected were Mypa road, Bosso Estate, Shaun Village, Okada road and Dusten Kura Hausa in Bosso and Chanchaga Local Government Areas of the state.