…As state opens 42 IDP camps
By Boluwaji Obahopo, Lokoja
The Kogi State Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Mouktar Atima, has said floods have completely submerged Ibaji Local Government Area in the eastern senatorial district of the state, warning communities along the river bank to immediately relocate to safer grounds.
The SEMA boss, who led the Emergency Response and Critical team on an advocacy visit to the State Commissioner of Health, Dr Adams Abdullazeez, said the state was no longer safe owing to the rising levels of the waters in the Rivers Niger and Benue.
He said, according to charts of experts and managers of various dams in the country, excessive water will begin to pour into the Rivers Niger and Benue from Tuesday) night which will cause an overflow of the river bank.
He said, “258 communities in eight local government areas of the state have been marked as flood-prone areas while 42 internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) camps have been constructed to take care of those to be displaced while an emergency operations centre has been opened.
“Already, five communities in Ibaji Local Government Area were worst hit including Ota, Ofogbo, Itima and Owara community in Kogi Local Government Area of the state.”
Atimah said the state Ministry of Health was key to disaster management in the state even as he intimated the health commissioner of the rising levels of the Rivers Niger and Benue, stressing that in the next 72 hours, the state will be entering a difficult period.
The SEMA boss commended the health commissioner for his proactive measures and support given to the agency, saying the support was responsible for zero casualty in last year.
Responding, the Commissioner of Health, Dr Adams Adeiza Abdullazeez, said the ministry was not only for healthcare services but also for human services, saying the ministry was adequately prepared to tackle or mitigate any disaster in the state.
Dr Abdullazeez said the ministry has already begun the fumigation of all the 42 IDP camps in preparation for the floods, saying the ministry has fully mobilised all its personnel and materials to attend to any flood victims.
He said, “My ministry is aware that there may be outbreak of diseases or epidemic in the various IDP camps and we are fully prepared.”
The health commissioner commended Governor Usman Ododo for his commitment to health issues in the state and stressed that due to the governor’s prompt intervention in last year’s flooding there was no single life lost.
“We commend our governor for his prompt response and usual assistance to the ministry; it was indeed his quick intervention that averted loss of lives in last year’s flood, while many states recorded loss of lives, Kogi recorded additional lives as two women in the IDP gave birth to twins,” he added.
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