Flood: Agony, pains of displaced victims in Kogi

It was a tale of woes and helplessness as residents of Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, and its environs spoke of their travails following heavy floods which displaced and rendered some of them homeless.      The recent flood in Lokoja and some parts of riverine communities in Koton Karfe Local Government Area of the state was […]

It was a tale of woes and helplessness as residents of Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, and its environs spoke of their travails following heavy floods which displaced and rendered some of them homeless.     

The recent flood in Lokoja and some parts of riverine communities in Koton Karfe Local Government Area of the state was not only as a result of the torrential downpour but the release of water from a dam in Cameroon.    

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Kogi State has been a confluence of River Niger and Benue at a little below Lokoja towards the South. Hence at the peak of every rainy season, residents of Lokoja metropolis especially those residing close to the river banks always live in fear of flooding.    

This year’s torrential rains not only destroyed many houses and other buildings but also flooded the ever busy Abuja-Lokoja highway leading to gridlock.  

Travellers spent several days in the gridlock with some resorting to canoes to continue with their journey.    

However, the sense of hopelessness and despair is more apparent at the two camps hosting the victims of the flood whose houses were submerged.    

Daily Trust correspondent who visited the camp at Adankolo Local Government Education (LGE) Primary School Lokoja reports that the living condition is quite pathetic.    

The displaced flood victims who are mostly women and children are cramped in only two blocks of six classrooms with some of them sleeping on mats or bare floors.     

Aside from cooking their meal within the school compound, they are exposed to health hazards due to lack of toilets in the school.     

Mrs Zainab Abdullahi, a mother of four, while speaking with our reporter at the camp, said life has not been easy for her and her children. She said her husband, a commercial motorcycle rider, Okada, had to struggle every day to provide for the family.  

She said though the state government and some non-governmental organisations have provided some foodstuffs to the IDPs, it was not adequate.  

“My husband has to go out to hustle by riding on tricycle to get some money to buy food because the food being given to us by the state government and NGOs is not enough,” she said.  

She said the school toilet was recently locked up which is forcing them to defecate at the backyard of the classrooms in the school.  

Mrs Maryam Audu, another mother of six who is also staying at the camp, lamented the lack of enough food for her and the children.    

She said three cups of rice and one pack of spaghetti were given to her and her six children when some foodstuffs were brought to the camp by a top politician in the area.  

“Sometimes my husband’s relatives bring food to us while my husband sometimes also rallies around to get food for us too,” Maryam said.     

She also lamented the lack of water at the camp, adding that some of them trek to the river side to fetch water.     

Daily Trust reliably gathered that most of the relief materials that are being brought to the camp hardly get to the IDPs, as they are being hijacked by touts and vigilantes who claim to be looking after them.

The camp coordinator, Aliyu Adoga, told our reporter that there were 116 IDPs at the camp.     

He said the camp was not officially designated as a centre to receive the victims but the state and federal governments have been providing relief materials to the occupants.   

Daily Trust correspondent also reports that another camp at the old NARTFORCE building and LEA Primary School at Okpaka both located along the Abuja-Lokoja highway, host 1, 665 victims, mostly women and children.  

Mrs Rukayyat Yahaya, a mother of five, told our reporter that life at the camp has not been easy for her and children especially because of the lack of enough food and potable water.  

She said she always has to cross the highway to the river to fetch water for her domestic use, adding that she and her children are also experiencing health challenges.    

“Because of the lack of enough food, my husband sometimes has to go to Koto town, to one of his relatives’ or friends’ house to get us food to eat because the food the government  is giving us is too little,” she said.    

The camp leader, Isah Adamu, who also spoke with our reporter, lamented the lack of sufficient food and potable water, which is the major challenge facing IDPs at the camp.    

He said children are also exposed to all kinds of diseases, adding that about 11 children and three adults were infected by cholera.    

He said the parents of the affected children had to rush them to a nearby hospital in Koton karfe town where they were treated and discharged.  

He attributed the outbreak to unhygienic water the IDPs are drinking at the camp.    

“Sometimes we have to carry kegs on motorcycles to Koton Karfe town since it is not far from the camp to fetch water from the tap for drinking.  But due to the high number of people at the camp, we always have shortage of drinking water,’’ he said.    

Adamu, who is a native of Adagema riverine community, said the environment they are staying in is not conducive, adding that they are exposed to all kinds of health hazards.  “That is why some of us had to erect a local tent to sleep inside,” he said.    

He also said some IDPs at the camp who suffered from malaria fever had to use their little money to either go for treatment or buy drugs at Kotonkarfe town. And no health personnel have been attached to the camp.  

“I want to use this medium to beg the state and federal governments, philanthropists and any NGOs that are bringing support to us at this camp to come to us directly, because we have been shortchanged.  

“Can you imagine only two mattresses were given to us in this camp which is holding up to 800 people? How can 800 people sleep on two mattresses?   

He also alleged that some people who are not affected by the flood get the lion share of relief materials meant for the IDPs. “This is the fact I am telling you.  

Go and make your findings.   

“Some people who are not affected by the flood always take the highest relief materials meant for us and that is why I am pleading that whoever  is coming to assist us should come to us directly,” he said.  

Our reporter who went round the camp reports that four women were delivered of babies at the camp.  

Reacting, the Chairman of Kogi local government area of the state, Alhaji Dauda Aliyu, denied the allegations that, saying the relief materials were judiciously distributed to all the IDPs. 

He said he personally monitored the distribution of the materials, which were donated by the state /federal government, HYPERDEC among others. 

According to him, 76 riverine communities across six political wards in Kogi local government area were affected by the flood, saying relief materials which comprised of food stuffs, mattresses and household items were distributed across the 16 IDPs camps. 

“We have 16 IDPs camps including in Lokoja and in order to ensure that the materials were judiciously distributed. I went round with SEMA officials to ensure that the materials were judiciously distributed,” he said.