The federal government has distributed relief items to 21 states affected by floods. This is just as the government revealed that 1,427,370 persons have been internally displaced, approximately 2,776 persons injured, while 612 persons have lost their lives due to the devastating effects of the floods across the country.
Speaking concerning the current situation, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, said to the public on the interventions made by the ministry and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on the flood and the relief for those affected.
She said this just as the Minister of Defence, Major Gen Bashir Magashi (rtd), had called for national resilience following the devastating flood across the nation.
Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked government at all levels to ensure adequate compensation for lives lost and property destroyed in the devastating flooding across the country.
According to Farouq, the 21 states are Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe.
Giving update on the flooding, she said as of October 24, 2022, about 3,219,780 persons were reportedly affected by floods this year.
Also, 181,600 houses were partially damaged and another 123,807 houses totally damaged. In addition, 176,852 hectares of farmlands were partially damaged while 392,399 hectares of farmlands have been totally damaged.
She said while specialised teams were on ground, there were still some states and local governments still inaccessible and hard to reach.
The minister said the federal government was liaising with the Military Disaster Response Units and other stakeholders with specialised skills and equipment to ensure that they use other means to reach hard-to-reach areas and people at risk.
She added that the Search and Rescue Operations had been on their toes since the flooding started and had continued to evacuate, relocate and refer victims to hospitals for immediate care. She called on other stakeholders to join in efforts to assist affected flood victims.
“I commend local communities for their resilience. We received a report that in 144 LGAs, local communities worked together to provide the first response to their families and neighbors. The Search and Rescue Team, which is responsible for evacuating people and providing life-saving first aid and medical support and referrals to hospitals has so far been able to reach 199 local government areas within 25 states,” she said.
She stressed that a high-level delegation would visit some states next week to follow up on operations and to identify any new challenges and gaps in the operations that need to be addressed.
The intervention by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, came on same day the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order special urgent humanitarian response to the Niger Delta region and rescue the dying victims of flood in the various states of the area.
The IYC President, Peter Timothy Igbifa, said over 85 percent of the entire Bayelsa was under water with about 100 deaths recorded in the last two weeks.
He demanded the deployment of presidential fleet to the state to rescue trapped victims and mitigate the damage already done by the flood.
He further commented while lamenting that Bayelsa had been cut off from civilisation as the floods took over and washed away significant portions of the only road leading to the state, the East-West road, at both Rivers and Delta states’ axis.
The IYC boss described the condition of the people at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Bayelsa as terrible, crying out that the traumatised victims required urgent medical, food and cash deployment to avert starvation and outbreak of diseases.
He wondered why Buhari would maintain unimaginable aloofness to the state of his predecessor, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who willingly handed over power to him, abandoning his people at their time of need.
He said: “As we speak, former President Goodluck Jonathan is officially an internally displaced person. His country home has been submerged and the people of Otuoke like other people from different parts of the state are traumatised.
“Bayelsa’s case is pathetic and requires special intervention from President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government. The floods destroyed the East-West road, the only road leading to Bayelsa at both ends of Rivers and Delta. Therefore, the entire Bayelsa is cut off and inaccessible by land.
“There is no movement of goods and services to the state. Trucks carrying foodstuffs, medicine and other items can no longer enter Bayelsa. The food available in the state before the floods had been totally consumed. Starvation is starring the people in the face and threatening to wipe them out of existence.
“The available IDPs are congested with serious fear of outbreak of diseases among the people. Our people are hopeless and helpless yet the federal government led by Buhari is carrying on as if all is well”.
Defence Minister Calls for National Resilience
In a related development, Magashi also called for national resilience following the devastating flood across the nation.
He spoke in Abuja while inaugurating the Course 31 of the Nigerian Defence College (NDC) with participants drawn from 20 countries.
The participants were drawn from Bangladesh, Benin Republic, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia and Ghana.
Others are India, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Niger, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.
Speaking as the special guest of honour, the minister said the impact of climate change on environmental and socioeconomic systems was compounding the country’s fragility risks.
He said extreme weather patterns were aggravating challenges confronting local communities.
“Extensive cultivation and overgrasing have been compounded by desertification, rendering large portion of land in northern Nigeria unproductive.
“Similarly, unpredictable and higher intensity rainfall is resulting in the loss of crops and displacement of communities.
“Depleting environmental resources in every part of the country pose a serious food security challenge in the face of a rapidly growing population,” he said.
He noted that responding to the 21st century risks landscape required an integrated approach that could better anticipate global shocks and emerging risks, while seizing opportunities from existing and new innovations. “Resilience building is necessary at all levels, from individuals to systemic levels. Accordingly, the national strategic framework must seek to incorporate the households, communities, businesses, academia as well as other experts and security services among others,” he said.
In his remarks, the Commandant of the Nigerian Defence College (NDC), Rear Admiral Murtala Bashir, said, 116 participants comprising 68 officers from the Armed Forces of Nigeria, 27 participants from the Nigeria Police, other security agencies and strategic Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
