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From John Adams, Minna
With less than one month to the anniversary of the devastating Mokwa flood disaster in Niger State, a windstorm has wreaked havoc across communities in the local government area, destroying well over 1,000 houses, with properties worth millions of naira lost.
An update on the windstorm across the state released by the State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) indicates that no fewer than 12 villages in Mokwa Local Government Area alone were affected by the disaster, which has so far rendered about 5,000 people homeless.
The affected villages include Sawmill, Kpege Wayata, Kpege, Station Girigi, Efu Shaba Lile, Tifin Madza, Yafu, Etisheshi, Hakimi Aliyu and Nasfat.
The State Emergency Management Agency, in a statement issued in Minna on Thursday by the Director-General, Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, said that apart from Mokwa, the windstorm also wreaked havoc in Bida, Lavun, Katcha, Gbako and Mariga local government areas, where over 100 houses were destroyed.
According to Baba Arah, Durgu Community in Bobi Ward of Mariga Local Government Area was the worst affected, with over 200 houses destroyed.
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He further disclosed that a preliminary report by the agency also indicates that the windstorm ripped through villages in Bida Local Government Area, adding that the affected villages include Cheniyan, Nasarafu, Bariki, Kyari, Dokoza, Masaga A and Masaga B.
The director-general, however, said that the agency, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and local government authorities, is currently conducting detailed assessments to determine the full extent of the damage and the humanitarian needs of affected victims.
He assured that further updates would be provided as the assessments continue, even as he appealed to communities to relocate from flood-prone areas as the rains approach.
It could be recalled that in June last year, what was described as the mother of all flood disasters in the state struck Mokwa, the headquarters of Mokwa Local Government Area, destroying over 2,000 homes, while over 200 lives were lost and properties worth hundreds of millions of naira were washed away during the midnight horror.
Barely one year later, the displaced people are yet to be resettled despite billions of naira donated to the state government by the federal government, corporate organisations and individuals.
