Borno flood kills 150 residents, displaces 120,000 persons in Maiduguri
By Tada Juthan, Maiduguri
The Director General of Borno State Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Mohammed Barkindo, has said that 150 residents were killed with the displacement of over 120, 000 persons in last month’s flood disasters in Maiduguri and two other council areas.
According to him, the September 10, 2024, submerged communities are located on the banks of the rivers Yedzaram and Ngadda that cut across the state capital.
Barkindo unveiled the flood’s casualties yesterday (Sunday) in a Dandal Kura Miliki Life Radio (MLR) program on the recent floods that destroyed many people’s lives and property.
He said the state’s Flood Relief and Assessment Committee (BFRAC) has embarked on the identification of affected flood victims for support and the rebuilding of the destroyed houses and critical infrastructure at N10 billion.
The SEMA boss lamented on the affected victims’ not providing the correct information on their family members and the destroyed property to the committee.
Citing a household in the Fori community, he said, “It’s very unfortunate for some of the food victims to declare killed relations in the floods while they are alive,” stating that victims’ “false declarations” to the committee were to claim compensations for the lost property, including the destroyed houses.
Besides the false declarations, he added that some traditional rulers in the flood-affected communities of Fori, Gwange I & II, Gambouru, and Moro Moro convived some of the affected residents to declare false ownership of houses and farmlands.
On the rescue of flood victims, he, however, noted that SEMA has to overcome the challenges of inadequate rescue facilities and logistics in the state.
Barkindo noted that it was the Adamawa state government, military, and other security agencies that provided motorised boats in reducing the flood’s casualties last month.He, therefore, commended them for the rescue operations that last for over a week in the metropolis, Jere, and Mafa local council areas of the state.
Attributing the recent floods to the building of houses on the riverbanks, he said that Governor Babagana Zulum and the State’s Geographic Information Service (BOGIS) had been warning residents since 2022 not to build houses along the riverbanks.
The Director General urged the residents to learn a lot of lessons from the massive destruction to lives and property in the state.
“You should always heed the early warnings of the Nigeria Mereological Agency (NiMET), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and SEMA,” he said, adding that compliance with the warning could reduce the levels of disasters to both life and property.
