Ogun State Government Raises Alarm Over Impending Floods.

The Ogun State Government, has raised alarm over an impending flooding in various places in the state as predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in its 2017 seasonal rainfall prediction.

Briefing journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital, the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Bolaji Oyeleye said areas to be affected by the flood include Abeokuta, Ewekoro, Ijebu Igbo, Ijebu Ode, Ikenne, Ota among other towns in the state.

 

While asking residents to maintain a high level of personal hygiene, the Commissioner, however, warned them against indiscriminate dumping of refuse in canal, and water in the state.

“The 2017 seasonal rainfall prediction by the NIMET showed floods may occur in some states in the north and west even as a shorter length of rain is predicted in most part of the country, rainfall amount is predicted to be above normal in and around Sokota, Zamfara, Niger, Kwara, Ogun and Adamawa”, he said.

He further noted that, “NIMET predicts the earliest onset date to be February 25, over the coastal region of the Niger Delta, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Plateau, Rivers, Bayelsa, Ogun and Oyo states are predicted to record early onset dates by about, three to seven days range from their 30 years normal.

“NIMET also predicted that many Nigerians would likely experience “Above danger heat stress” this year, due to combination of heat and humidity, this impact is that exposure to excessive heat for too long could cause heat stress, which may in turn lead to severe illness collectively called “Hyperthermia”.

“We are appealing to residents not to block drainage channels, either natural or constructed, refrain from dumping waste into drainage channels and rivers or stream flow course” he concluded.

 

Source: Channels TV

Genetically Modified Beans To Flood Nigerian Markets In 2019– NABDA

The National Biotechnology Development Agency has said genetically modified beans would be available in commercial quantity across Nigerian markets on or before 2019.

The NABDA Director General, Prof Lucy Ogbadu, who said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the November edition of Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), revealed that Nigeria would soon witness abundant beans as the GM cowpeas (or beans) would be released into the market in large quantities in two or three years’ time.

She said the cowpea, which is currently undergoing field trials, is safe and wouldn’t pose any health risk to Nigerians.

“Rules are being followed in its production. Our Ethical Committee is working day and night to ensure that no rule is breached. Nigerians should be rest assured that the GM beans and other crops which will be available later in the country would be safe for consumption. In 2-3 years’ time, cowpea should be ready in commercial quantity in the country”, Prof Ogbadu said.

She dismissed “the insinuation” that GM foods are unhealthy; saying over 100 Nobel Laureates had signed a petition to guarantee its safety.

Credit: dailytrust

Flood Takes Over Road To Otuoke

A section of the Onuebum Road leading to Otuoke, former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s home town in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, has been taken over by flood.

Motorists, especially private car owners, are now forced to travel through Elebele Road to access Otuoke community, host to a federal university.

Also, petty traders operating along the Otuoke-Onuebum Road have been sacked by the rising water level from the adjoining forest. The road is the closest route for residents of Azikoro, Agbura, Otuokpoti and several other communities in Yenagoa to access Otuoke.

Some community youths had done palliative work on the failed portion of the road before flood submerged it. The youths were sighted, yesterday, directing vehicles away from the deeper parts of the flooded area.

Read More:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/09/flood-takes-road-ex-president-jonathans-hometown/

Flood Renders Thousands Homeless In Kaduna

Thousands of people in Kaduna State have been rendered homeless by flood as a result of three days downpour.

The flood which also submerges nearly 200 houses across the state, started since Friday morning, Saturday and Sunday evening.

Those forced out of their homes are estimated to be about 5000 persons.

It was gathered that some communities in Jema’a local government were worst by the flood.

Other communities hit by the flood included, Zaria, Abubakar Kigo road new extension, Barnawa, Narayi , Rom, Rigasa among others.

The flood also washed away farmlands and properties, as some residents were seen rushing to remove some valuable equipment in their homes.

A resident of the area, Mr. Bulus said they were fast asleep when they suddenly discovered water was rushing into their home.  Before they could jump up the whole place was flooded within a twinkle of an eye.

“We were asleep at about 12.30am when we discovered water was coming into the house.   Before I could jump up the whole house was flooded, and within a twinkle of an eye it got to my shoulder, so, we just struggle to find our way into the ceiling crying for help,” he said.

Read More:

http://leadership.ng/news/548285/flood-renders-thousands-homeless-in-kaduna-2

Lawmaker Donates N5m Relief Materials To Flood Victims In Sokoto

A member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Isa Kalanjeni, on Monday donated assorted relief materials worth N5 million to flood victims in Bachaka, Gudu Local Government of Sokoto State.

Presenting the items, at Bachaka, Kalanjeni, who represents Gudu/Tangaza Federal Constituency, said the gesture was aimed at alleviating the suffering of the victims.

Kalanjeni said, ”My visit here is to personally commiserate with you in your most trying times.

“My donation is not in any way a compensation for your huge losses, as only God who destines the disaster is capable of doing that.

”You should, however, regard the unfortunate disaster as an inevitable act of God.”

The lawmaker said he had reported the incident to the House of Representatives with a view to getting relief for the victims.

He said, ”I have also written to the National Emergency Management Agency for its prompt action.’’

The District Head of Bachaka, Alhaji Aminu Abdulahi, commended the lawmaker for the gesture and promised judicious distribution of the items to the victims.

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Tangaza Local Government, Alhaji Madugu Ruwa-Wuri, called for prayers to prevent re-occurrence of the incident.

Ibrahim Gatari and Sambo Abdullahi, two of the beneficiaries, also commended the donor for his intervention and promised to make the proper use of the materials.

The items included 300 bags of cement, 30 bundles of roofing sheet, rubber mats, plastic buckets and kettles, among others.

Credit:

http://punchng.com/lawmaker-donates-n5m-relief-materials-flood-victims-sokoto/

Flood Destroys 300 Houses In Yobe

Alhaji Musa Jidawa, Executive Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), on Wednesday, said that over 300 houses, farmlands and livestock had been destroyed by flood in Jakusko and Adaya communities.

He made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu.

Jidawa said, “We received report of over 250 houses destroyed in Jakusko and about 54 others in Adaya but no life was lost, the affected people are taking shelter with relations in the communities.”

The executive secretary added that the state government had provided food, clothes and building materials to the victims to assist them resettle.

Jidawa said that the agency had embarked on enlightenment campaign, urging communities on waterways to vacate the water routes to avoid disaster.

“There are early warning signals indicating flood in some states, including Yobe, we have therefore addressed flood prone communities to evacuate the water path.

“There are communities that have suffered flooding in many years; we are still calling on these communities to leave the waterways.”

According to the executive secretary, Ngelzarma, Jajere, Nangere, Buduwa, Nguru, Gashua, Damagum, Dapchi and some communities in Tarmuwa experience flooding almost every year.

He urged residents of towns and villages to evacuate drainage and avoid constructing buildings or dumping refuse in such a way that it would block the waterways.

“There will be fewer floods if we make room for a free flow of water in our communities.”

NAN reports that two unidentified corpses of young boys were recently recovered by fishermen from river Nguru.

Akwa Ibom To Build Camps In Anticipation Of Flood

Akwa Ibom  State Government has directed the chairmen of 15 local government areas prone to flooding to build camps for rescue of victims in view of anticipated flood.

The State Flood Sensitisation Campaign Team led by the Director of Administration, Deputy Governor’s Office, Mrs Ekaette Ekanem, gave the directive yesterday at Itu centre of the campaign.

It was learnt that the state government had already categorised the 15 flood prone local government areas (LGAs) into four groups for purpose of the sensitisation.

The Oron group will comprise Oron, Udung Uko, Mbo, Urue Offong/Oruko and Okobo LGAs while Ibeno group or centre will make up of Eket, Esit Eket, Onna and Ibeno LGAs.

The LGAs in Ikot Abasi group or centre are Mkpat Enin, Eastern Obolo,Ikot Abasi while Itu centre comprises Uruan, Ibiono Ibom and Itu LGAs.

Ekanem said that the state government was working towards providing relief materials to victims of flooding that would be identified by the local council authority during the emergency.

Read More:

http://leadership.ng/news/547577/aibom-to-build-camps-in-anticipation-of-flood

Flood Destroys 5,300 Houses In Kano

Kano State Relief and Emergency Agency on Tuesday confirmed that at least 5,300 houses were destroyed by flood in six Local Government Areas of Kano State.

Executive Secretary of SREA, Aliyu Bashir, who confirmed the disaster in Kano said, the affected Local Government Areas include, Bebeji, Dawakin Kudu, Kiru Shanono, Bagwai and Garun Mallam.

In Dawakin Kudu, over 2,300 houses were affected while not less than 600 houses in each of the remaining five areas were also destroyed by the flood.

Bashir disclosed that officials of the agency had undertaken an assessment visit to all the affected areas, so as to determine the extent of damage caused by the flood.

Also, he revealed that the State Government will come to their aid of the victims as an interim measure, as soon as the Agency concludes and submits its report.

As at the time of filing this report, our Report in Kano had not gone round the metropolis to ascertain any destruction that may have been caused by Monday’s downpour, which started at about 6pm and lasted to the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Read More:

http://punchng.com/flood-destroys-5300-houses-kano/

Flood Kills 3, Destroys Cash Crops In Kano State

Three persons were killed while foodstuff and cash crops worth millions of Naira were washed away during a heavy down pour in Hayin Gwarmai village in Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State on Sunday.

The Chairman of the Local Government, Alhaji Mudansiru Bebeji, told newsmen in Kano on Monday that the flood also washed away several farms in area.
Bebeji said a number of houses had also been destroyed during the disaster.

He said he had since paid a sympathy visit to the victims of the disaster and called on the Federal state governments to come to the aid of the victims to alleviate their sufferings. “We are calling on the Federal and Kano State governments to assist the victims to reduce their sufferings,” he said.

The Director, Operations, Kano State Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (SERERA), Alhaji Abdullahi Dambatta, said the agency had not received any official report on the incident from the local government council.

Dambatta, however, said as soon as the agency got the report it would forward same to the state government for necessary assistance to the victims.

Credit: Guardian

Flood: NEMA Warns Communities To Vacate Waterways

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has  advised states and local governments to immediately relocate residents of communities along rivers, waterways and flood-prone areas to safer grounds to avoid unnecessary loss of lives and properties.

A statement signed by the agency’s Senior Information Officer,  Sani Datti said the warning has become necessary as result of heavy rains and the devastating affect of floods that have been witnessed in most of the communities along rivers, waterways and flood prone areas in the recent time,

The statement quoted the Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi of having urged state and local governments to ensure adequate and proper refuse dumping sites from where they would be evacuated regularly.

Read More: thisdaylive

Flood Displaces 400 In Calabar

An unprecedented flood has wreaked havoc in Calabar metropolis in Cross River State, submerging  no fewer than 100 houses and displacing about 400 persons.

Areas worse hit include, Goldie, CRUTECH staff quarters, Target, White House by William George Street, White House by Calabar Road, Okoro Agbor, Nelson Mandela, and Howell streets.

The ravaging flood, which occurred following a two-day downpour, did not only destroy valuable household items worth several millions of naira, but sacked the residents, thereby rendering them homeless.

Some of the affected areas on Okoro Agobor and Howell streets, and some of the residents  were seen trying to salvage some of their belongings, while  children and the elderly,  trapped in the flood, were being evacuated to nearby homes less affected by the flood.

Some of the affected victims said the experience was not  new  to them because the flooding had occurred in the past.

Read Moresunnewsonline

We Received N535m For Flood Victims, Not N15bn – Bayelsa

The Bayelsa State Post-flood Management Committee has described as lies, the allegation by the All Progressives Congress that it received N15bn as donations during the peak of the 2012 floods that devastated the entire state.

The committee said it had only received the sum of N500m from the state government, being donation from a philanthropic organisation, Mr. Mike Adenuga Foundation, and additional N35m for logistics and administrative cost.

A leader of the APC in the state, Mr. Bodi Arerebo, had challenged Governor Seriake Dickson to account for almost N15bn flood money allegedly received by the state during the floods.

Arerebo, a kinsman of Dickson, who spoke at a news conference in Yenagoa recently, said after the disaster, public spirited individuals, including international donors, donated the money for the resettlement of victims and rebuilding places destroyed by the floods.

The politician had lamented that the money might have gone down the drain as Dickson since then had yet to tell the people how the money was expended and nothing on ground to show for it. But while clarifying the issue, Chairman of BSPMC, Chief Francis Doukpola, in a statement in Yenagoa on Monday, said it was wrong for any person or group of persons to make such a weighty allegation without any iota of fact.

He challenged those raising the allegation to come up with proof of any transactions that led to the acquisition of such amount by the committee or state government.

Doukpola said the money received was used for positive interventions in most of the flood affected areas in seven local government areas in the state.

He said the committee, in a bid to alleviate the sufferings of the people, had embarked on some projects, including the distribution of cement in all the communities in the seven LGAs which were affected by the flood apart from Brass council area that was not affected.

He also said 400 bags of cement were given to each of the communities to be distributed among the most affected persons, with emphasis on the less-privileged with mud houses.

Doukpola explained that the committee also carried out post-flood activities by opening up a blocked channel in Igbogene community in the Yenagoa LGA, which was largely responsible for the massive flooding in the community.

Other interventions, according to him, were the renovation of Primary School II Agorogbene; repair of damaged hospital fence in the Niger Delta Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri; removal of damaged/collapsed bridge and water hyacinths at Imiringi and opening of a flood channel at Onuegbum.

He said more interventions were also done for the repair of parts of Amatu link road in Odi; renovation of Ologoghe hospital; renovation of Ologi hospital; blockage of flood channels in Agbere; construction of shore protection in Sampou; construction of earth dyke in Sagbama; blockage of flood channels in Tombia; blockage of flood channel in Olugbobiri and renovation of health centre and primary school in Opuama.

Doupola said the committee embarked on the renovation of the Cottage Hospital at Agbere; construction of two footbridges in Fikuroma, Nembe and Oweigbene in Ekeremor; renovation of Pretrugbene Primary School; renovation of Yenaka Primary School; construction of concrete road in Ayamassa; renovation of Opuama primary school; building of flood muster point at Isoni; renovation of doctors’ quarters and wards at General Hospital in Biseni; reconstruction of teachers quarter at Toru-Orua; protection of Tombia waterfront with concrete; renovation of Comprehensive High School in Agudama-Epie and protection of shoreline at Agbere.

Doukpola, however, noted that the several other interventions that were not listed were contained in a detailed committee report which had been handed over to the state Auditor-General.

Flood Wreaks Havoc In Anambra

Awka and Onitsha, the capital and commercial nerve centre of Anambra state, were yesterday heavily impacted by flood following torrential rains that lasted from the early hours of Sunday to yesterday.

By yesterday afternoon, the flood had pulled down a residential building at Udoka Estate and submerged another at Ngozika Estate in Awka. The flood also made Awka Ring Road leading to Nibo impassable.

The flood, which made the Obibia River to overflow across the road, damaged farmlands and threw a truck carrying bags of packaged water into the river.

Six persons, including a Reverend Father, narrowly escaped being drowned when the flood submerged their vehicles on Awka Ring Road.

The Reverend Father was driving along the road when another vehicle ran into the flood and splashed water that affected his engine. As the cleric was trying to restart his car, the flood surged and submerged his car. He had to swim through the flood to safety.

Five others in a truck had to climb to the roof of the vehicle to escape drowning. The villagers later rescued them.

Read Moresunnewsonline