Until 10 years ago, residents of Kogi state, a geo-political expression in North Central Nigeria, popularly called the “confluence state”, believed in the popular saying that “water has no enemy” and “water is life”.
But unfortunately, not anymore, given the magnitude of flooding in the state of recent. In short, lives are being lost to the flooding christened as a “Ravaging Monster.”
Kogi state earns the unique nomenclature of a “confluence State” because it is the only state in Nigerian written history where River Niger and Benue of different sources meet and flow as one, as in Christian marriage where the union of man and woman becomes one: spiritual union.
The belief of the people about the importance of water to man was reinforced by the late Fela Anikulapokuti, the African musical legend and an illustrious son of Nigeria about 40 years in one of his hit songs, “Water No Get Enemy”.
In the song, Fela, the “Abami Eda” itemised the Importance of water to man to include, aiding him in cooking, bathing and serving as a means of transportation among other basic necessities of man.
Fela’s song finds ally in health experts who proved water as carrier of nutrients and oxygen to the cells, lushes bacteria from bladder, aiding digestion, preventing constipation, normalizing blood pressure, cushioning joints, protecting organs and tissues and regulating body temperature, through years of research.
Stakeholders in entertainment industry assert that Fela could not have minced words in saying that water remains man’s best friend but failed to add that being one of the natural disasters, the precious commodity could also be man’s worse enemy in the process of symbiotic relationship between man and nature.
This is the fate of thousands of residents of kogi state recently hit by the return of a more devasting flood in ten years.
The question on the lips of many residents in the state is, why the 2022 flood in kogi state? Which ever pendulum the answer dangles, the fact that Nigerians have been warned of the disaster lurking to harvest victims.
Basically, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) have been stressing the fact that the 2022 floods are considerably heavier than usual preparing all and sundry on the need for more coordinated action in various public fora.
Secondly, according to media report, the authorities in Cameron decided to open water from Lagdo dam, coupled with release of water from Kainji and Shiroro dams, the large quantity of which passed through River Niger enroute Lokoja to other parts of the world.
In all this, the victims are made to face the sad reality of flood, most of who have been sorrowing and borrowing in temporary accommodation, courtesy of relations, friends and other Nigerians of “milk of human kindness”.
Media reports indicate that no fewer than six persons had so far lost their lives in the course of flood at the time of this piece.
Four members of a family, sacked by flood from their house and took refuge in a friend’s house in Adankolo in Lokoja, were admitted at the Federal Medical Centre FMC Lokoja, as a result of high degree of burn they sustained when trying to ignite gas to prepare food for consumption.
Sources said with troubled mind, one of the victims, unknown to her that she did not lock the cylinder very well, lit the equipment and within a minute, the gas exploded and the whole house went in flame resulting in four members sustaining high degree burns
This is in addition to two corpses recovered from River Niger at Ganaja on Monday, Oct 3, when the boat they were being ferried across flooded Ganaja area to continue their journey to Ajaokuta capsized.
Concerned members of the public noted that with the magnitude of the 2022 flood in nine local government areas of the state, particularly in Ibaji, the worse hit, all cannot be said to be rosy for the people of kogi state.
The Ibaji Unity Forum (IUF), an umbrella body for people of Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi, has appealed to the Federal and State Governments for urgent intervention to ameliorate the peoples’ suffering emanated from flooding.
The President of IUF, Barr. Stephen Uchola, made the appeal on Tuesday after he led officials of the organisation to visit some affected communities in Ibaji.
He urged the Federal and Kogi Governments to urgently take necessary steps to rescue thousands of people trapped in different communities in the area due to the ravaging flood disaster.
He said that since the outbreak of the devastating flood that submerged the entire local government area and rendered the residents homeless, there had not been any assistance from the government and its agencies for the victims.
Uchola expressed fear that many of the victims were in danger of losing their lives as they were sick without drugs, food and shelter.
He added that many had remained trapped in their communities as all the roads in the local government had been taken over by the flooding.
“What we saw at various places we visited has necessitated this urgent call on the various arms of government, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists and donor agencies to come to the aid of the victims.
”They have lost everything to the flood and are battling to survive the disaster.
“We visited some communities on Monday and Tuesday, and will continue on Wednesday to cover the entire ten wards in Ibaji LGA.
According to him, all the ten wards which include: Onyedega, Iyano, Ujeh, Ayah, Ojila, Odeke, Akpanyo, Unale, Ejule and Analo have been devastated by flood.
He added: ”Dangerous reptiles have taken over the flooded houses and it’s dangerous.
“Six deaths have been reported so far.
”At Aniocha in Ojila Ward, a 3-year-old child fell into the river and died. The casualty figure is low because many of our people can swim.
“As we speak, thousands of them including the children are sick, stranded and eager to leave the area but they cannot do so because the volunteers using wooden boats to evacuate them can’t do much.
”Having lost their source of livelihood they are now helpless and praying for relief assistance especially food, drugs, clothing and shelter.
”If these are not provided urgently, from what we experienced, many will not survive this harsh condition.
“Unfortunately, those already evacuated to Idah town and some neighbouring states are also suffering and are finding it difficult to cope with some of them wearing one dress since they were rescued from their flooded communities some days back.
”Many of them have no place to sleep. Their condition is very pathetic and they are crying for help”.
He, therefore called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Kogi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), to urgently intervene and evacuate the victims to safe places and provide the much needed support in the local government.
He noted some members of the organisation and public-spirited individuals had made donations towards assisting the victims but said that the donations were not enough to alleviate the suffering of the people and mitigate the impact of the disaster on the communities.
“We are sending this Save-Our-Soul message to President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Yahaya Bello as well as NEMA to come to the rescue of our people.
”These people cannot help themselves under the present circumstances and their survival now depends on support from the government and donors. They should not abandon us in this time of difficulty,” Uchola appealed.
He further appealed to members of the public and kind-hearted individuals willing to assist the victims to do so by coming to the aid of the victims.
The forum merely echoes the call of victims of the nine local government areas in the state affected by the flood.
With prices of food hitting the roof, transportation impeded in some instances, fare hike, more than 600 hectres of farmlands lost, thousands of victims in social,economic and psychological difficulty, people stressed timely intervention by the state and federal governments, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other kind hearted to come to the aid of victims in the state.
A stich in time saves nine, they urged.
They added that, in dire need of aid, the victims needed the milk of human kindness of all and sundry with the financial resources to assist these unfortunate Nigerians gather pieces of their lives again and move on with life.
But the Governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, says his administration is not unaware of the plight of the victims, assuring them that he is more touched by the monumental sufferings they are going through as a result of the effects of the natural disaster.
In his “Extra ordinary Speech” to mark the low key 62 Independence Day in the state, Bello said: I am deeply distressed by the scope of devastation and suffering that has already been visited on our people by the rising floodwaters this year.
“The flooding has affected the nine (9) local government areas, which lie along the Rivers Niger and Benue, namely, Lokoja, Kogi-Koto, Ajaokuta, Ofu, Igalamela-Odolu, Bassa, Idah, Ibaji and Omala. Ibaji is almost 100% under water while the rest range from 30% up. Other inland LGAs also have some degree of flooding from smaller rivers and tributaries.
“We, therefore, have a serious and humanitarian tragedy on our hands, but I wish to assure every person, family and community, which has been affected, that they are not alone and that help is coming.
“Even before the floods came,we had activated our early response systems to make sure that succour reaches those affected in a timely manner.
“What this means is that in the short term, we are providing affected persons and communities with shelter at our various Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps, as well as security, food, medicines, clothing and cash grants for necessities, among others.
“In the long term, we will need to gear efforts towards more sustainable solutions where possible.
“The 2022 floods have been confirmed as Nigeria’s worst flood disaster in a decade, and they are becoming progressively worse than those of 2012 and 2018.
” Inasmuch as my administration has implemented Flood Early Warning Systems (FEWS) and efforts are ongoing to evacuate and provide relief for victims, we must now admit that more is needed from the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
Bello, therefore, appealed to the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to declare a State of National Disaster Due To Flooding in Kogi and other similarly affected states.
He expressed optimism that the declaration would help to unlock the nation’s latent capabilities to respond more aggressively with more men, money and materials to this harrowing situation.
Beyond appeal, Bello reminded the people that “natural Disasters can neither be controlled, contained nor anticipated.”
“Even as we exercise the basic flood management methods to prevent and reduce the detrimental effects of flood waters, we urge our dearly beloved citizens, affected by this disaster,to move to our designated IDP camps on higher ground for safety,” he advised.
In all, as stakeholders in the rescue mission strive to put smile back to the faces of flood victims in kogi state, concerned members of the public have harped on agitation to hasten efforts aimed at assisting flood victims to recover from shock and brunt of this monstrous phenomenon called flood as well for the sake of humanity.
Nothing short of quick supply of relief materials for flood victims,by all and sundry, will mean much for them because as one of them revealed, “life looks dark, murky, or somber” for us now.”
“All we need now is where the next assistance will come from, government or private sector, to make life meaningful to us again,” he added.
Dada Ahmed publishes The Reporters,an online publication.
ahmeddada008@gmail.com.
