- Decayed human body parts, dead animals’ carcasses float on water
An outbreak of epidemic now looms in Ofukpo, Osomhmegbe, Udaba and Ughomere in Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State. The River Niger has overflowed its banks, flooded and submerged several houses, property and farms, worth millions of naira in the four communities.
A life has also been lost to the flood.
The affected communities are also in a great danger as corpses have been exhumed from graves and decayed human parts now float on the water aggravated by torrential rainfall in the area.
Also, many livestock belonging to the residents of the communities such as sheep, goat and chickens have been killed by the flood and their rotten body parts washed away.
The most populous single community in Etsako Central LGA, Udaba Ekphei, has also been ravaged by the flood.
But the yet-to-be-commissioned Internally Displaced Persons resettlement camp, built by the Federal Government is said to be too far away and not easily accessible to residents rendered homeless by the flood in Udaba, Ofukpo, Agbabu, Osomhegbe, Udochi, Anegbette, Unuobe and Yewoa communities.
Experts claimed that the water released from Cameroon, Togo and Niger Republic dams, through the River Benue had been responsible for the seasonal flooding of most communities located in the vicinity of the Rivers Niger and Benue.
A member of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon. Lawani Damian, said, “Flood has badly affected the people of Udaba-Ekperi and they need to be relocated immediately. The situation is the same in villages like Osomhegbe, Ifeku, Agbabu, Ofukpo and some parts of Anegbette.
“They need government attention and there is a need for a government delegation to visit these communities, and since this is a yearly occurrence, government should find a permanent solution to it.”
The family and personal houses of the lawmaker, who hails from Udaba, have also been submerged in the flood.
Damian, who visited the affected communities in company with some political appointees and senior staff of the local government, said their visit was to ascertain the level of destruction of lives and properties, livestock, crops and other valuables wreaked by the flood.
He said, “With the level of destruction of crops, there is bound to be food insecurity here this year and you know what that means . In fact, if you are not here you will not understand what my people are going through.
“My worry is that, this is now a yearly thing and I think a permanent solution is what is needed. Really I’m pained because I share their feelings and I know how difficult it is right now for them.”
He added, “You would recall that my people in Udaba Ekperi, Agbabu, Osomegbe, Ifeku inland, Udochi, Ofukpo, Anegbette, Utsuko and Ukpe oko orile are all affected. Schools have shut down, And the IDP camp is not ready, so many issues.
“There is a need for medical help, foodstuff, provision of boats to ease movement and even cash, construction of Udaba road, linking all the villages mentioned, creation of dams and dredging of the River Niger. All those affected are going to start all over again. It is a pitiable situation.”
He, therefore, appealed to the government, other organisations and kind-hearted individuals to come to the rescue of the residents of the affected communities.
Also, the state Commissioner for Youths and Special Duties, Hon. Mika Amanokha, visited the affected communities in company with the top management staff of the ministry, the state Emergency Management Agency, National Emergency Management Agency.
Amanokha appealed to the people living around the river banks and flooded areas in the state to relocate to the uplands.
He said the visit was for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and to sensitise the indigenes on the importance of relocating to safer areas.
The commissioner noted that the water was fast rising by the day and was submerging the communities around.
He also visited the constructed resettlement camp built by the Federal Government at Ekperi for flood relief and rehabilitation victims in Etsako Central Local Government
Area.
The affected communities are in a great danger as corpses have been exhumed from graves and decayed human parts now float on the water
Amanokha, however, gave the assurance that the state government would clean up the building and activate the camp to make it habitable, functional and conducive for the victims to live in.
He said the resettlement camp could accommodate several families affected by flood disaster in the locality.
Earlier, an indigene of Ofukpo community, Mumuni Salami, commended the state government for coming to the community to ascertain the effect of the flood on them.
Salami said that the flood had damaged their properties and crops, and therefore solicited for the state government’s intervention.
Also speaking, an indigene of Osomhegbe, Abdullahi Abbas, appealed to the state government to ameliorate their suffering by
providing succour for them as their property and crop farms had been submerged.
