Flooded by water, but lack access to potable water is the irony of the current effects of flood in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
ebirareporters.com reported yesterday that the state government listed nine local government areas of the state currently submerged by flood, appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of national disaster in Kogi.
The local government areas include Ajaokuta, Kogi-Koto, Ofu, Igalamela-Odolu, Bassa, Idah, Ibaji, and Lokoja.
According to a more recent investigation published by Daily Post, communities along the flooded areas in Lokoja, which usually had access to potable water, now suffer scarcity as caused as the flood affected the area where the water is being processed and pumped for public consumption.
A visit by our correspondent to some houses within the Gadumo new layout, close to River Niger showed residents without water and their pumps dry.
An officer of the State Ministry of Water Resources who spoke with DAILY POST on the condition of anonymity, said, “we can only treat and pump water for public consumption when flood leaves this area”.
Some residents, such as Muhammed Aliu and Agnes Alabi among others in Gadumo, described the 2022 flood as more devasting, compared to that of 2012.
“In 2012 when Lokoja first witnessed this terrible natural disaster, I was one of those who accommodated some victims in my house as flood did not reach my house in Gadumo.
“Ironically, this year, I became one of the victims, water flooded my house, forcing me and my family to relocate to squat with a friend somewhere at Ibaji quarters in Lokoja,” Aliu said.
Also speaking with our Correspondent in a telephone interview, the Presiding Shepherd of Sword of Fire Evangelical Ministry, Pastor Ade Bada, described the effect of this year’s flood in Lokoja as unimaginable.
The cleric said, “with the situation we find ourselves in, the flood has added another costly agony to the pain on the ground.”
He prayed to Almighty God to show mercy on the state and its residents and cause a stop to the flood, sooner than later.
Pastor Bada prayed God to see the victims through the trying time in such a way that the effect of the flood will not be overwhelming on them and their families” he said
Some of the residents who turned up at the old market side of the town, to see the development, called on authorities in Cameron to stop releasing Lagdo dam water to check floods in Nigeria.
