Please, help us, Kebbi govt begs as flood kills 29, destroys 321,000 houses
BY ORIAKU IJELE & JOHN BASSEY
Days after the devastating flooding incident in Borno, which left hundreds of thousands displaced, the northeastern state of Kebbi is having a taste of the bitter experience.
Saturday Times gathered that at the moment over 29 persons have died with lots of hectares of farmlands destroyed, aside 320,000 houses so far damaged by the rampaging floods. In view of this the government is calling out for support from good-spirited individuals.
The Kebbi State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Yakubu Birnin Kebbi, made the appeal at a briefing in Birnin Kebbi on Friday.
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He decried that 16 out of the 21 LGs were the worse hit, leaving 329,000 houses destroyed and 858,000 hectares of farmland washed away by the disaster.
According to him, some of the worst affected LGs were: Argungu, Birnin Kebbi, Ngaski, Jega, Augie, Yauri, Maiyama, Shanga, Koko-Besse and Gwandu, among others.
Birnin Kebbi added, “None of the 21 LGs was spared by this devastating flood and almost all households in the state were either directly or indirectly affected.
“This was in spite of all the proactive measures taken by the state government to stem the tide of the flood disaster.
“The State Government promptly acted upon the flood alerts earlier recieved from NIMET, NEMA and the Nigerian Hydrological Agency.”
According to the Commissioner, the disaster has hugely affected the livelihoods of the generality of the people of the state especially the rural areas.
He averred ‘ 7 victims were reportedly dead in Ngaski LGA,,8 in Maiyama,5 in Kalgo,7 in Jega and 2 in Birnin Kebbi local Government ‘.
He also stated that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of assorted farm produce had also been destroyed by the flood, hence impacting negatively on the state’s invaluable contributions to the nation’s food supply chain.
This, he lamented, is a bad omen for Nigeria’s food security as Kebbi State remains the indispensable hub of rice production in the country.
He said, “If an urgent support is not given to the affected farmers, there is an impending food scarcity in fhe state and the country in general.
“To prevent this impending doom, the victims should be assisted by well-meaning individuals and groups from within and outside the country.
“They should be assisted with assorted improved seeds and other inputs for them to engage in dry season faraming so as to empower them to bounce back.
“This will bolster food production, empower and have a multiplier effects on Nigeria’s food supply chain.”
He recalled that the State Government has set up standing committees at the state and LGAs levels, with a view to assessing the extent of damages caused by the colossal flood disaster across the state.
The Commissioner said that the gesture was aimed at coming up with measures and actions to assist the flood victims.
He said, “But, due to the extent of damage caused by the disaster, there is the need for collective actions to assist the victims.
“Kebbi state government is doing its best in this direction but it needs the support of all and sundry, locally and internationally.”
The Commissioner emphasized that the committee established by the State Government, led by the Deputy Governor, Senator Umar Abubakar Tafida, is working tirelessly to alleviate the impact of the flood on the victims.
