Joseph Bakare
The Federal Government said it is collaborating with affected states where flood has wrecked havoc as well as elevant stakeholders to ensure that victims whose farmlands and other properties were submerged are paid adequate compensation to cushion the effects of the devastation.
Vice president Yemi Osinbajo, who said this yesterday, also lamented that twelve states are under water and prone to flooding.
Similarly, in Edo State, unending downpour across the state in the last few days have flooded no fewer than 35 communities in Edo Central and Edo North Senatorial districts, rendering the people homeless. Most of the affected communities are on the bank of River Niger.
In Edo Central, particularly Esan South-East LGA, the flood wreaked untold destruction in four of the ten wards, particularly, communities which included Illushi to Ifeku Islands and the surrounding environs. Others communities affected include Illushi Oji, Oji Ozigono, Oji Awenje, Ajobe, Ajabutu, Owoli, Iyegbi and Ukpodo and other areas where no fewer than 8,000 households were affected and thousands of hectares of farmland washed off. In Edo North, the devastation affected communities in Etsako East and Etsako Central LGAs. Mostly affected are Udaba, Anegbette, Usomegbe, Uduchi among others. In Asaba, Osinbajo who addressed over 700 flood victims, whose houses had been submerged in communities along the shores of the River Niger at the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP in Asaba, said the Federal Government was impressed by the facilities provided by the Delta State Government at the camp for flood victims at Ogbe-Afor Primary School, Asaba Osinbajo who was in the state on a one day official working visit, said “I am very touched seeing all of you who have been evacuated from your homes to this temporary place. It is very disruptive. “And I commend the state government for moving swiftly to provide this place. The facilities here are adequate. The clinic and the bed spaces are adequate,” adding that Delta and Anambra states have been declared national disaster by the Federal Government. Osinbajo who had earlier undertaken an aerial inspection of some of the affected communities in Asaba in company of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, decried that it was more difficult to manage the post flood period which includes resettling the victims. On how to prevent the re-occurrence of flooding in the future, Osibanjo described flooding as ecological challenge which in most cases, cannot be prevented, saying “A lot of the flooding is ecological problem, some of them you may not be able to prevent, and that is what you see practically in every part of the world. We have seen a lot of what the state government has done, a lot of canals have been created “So there are very many steps that had been taken but very frequently you find that sometimes the levels are unprecedented.
In 2012 if you look at the months and months of rainfall what has happened in the past few weeks is higher than that of 2012.” Governor Okowa, who accompanied the Vice President on visits to impacted communities, thanked the Federal Government for their speedy response to the flood situation, adding that the state was bracing up for more impact of the flood as water in the affected states would pass through Delta State to empty into the Atlantic Ocean.