Benue Govt Orders Residents To Vacate Flood-Prone Areas

Benue State government has directed residents in flood-prone areas to vacate those settlements to safer places as a precautionary measure on the flood alert issued by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet)

The directive followed the recent flood alert which identified Benue among states vulnerable to flooding in the coming month.

The permanent secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Dr James Iorpuu, disclosed during the flag-off of food and non-food relief item to be distributed across all the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps and other vulnerable groups over 18,592 persons from 4,648 households in renewed attacks on the farming communities in the state.

Dr.Iorpuu said among those displaced were 8,650- women, 4,147- men, 5,795-children, 325- pregnant women, 637- breast feeding mothers, 2,315-persons with disabilities and 571- elderly persons currently taking refuge at the  NKST Primary School and Calvin Foundation College all in Naka, the headquarters of Gwer-West local government area.

Represented by the director of administration, Dr Donald Komgbenda,  Dr Iorpuu who is also the executive secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agency, said the distribution which commenced on Monday at Mbayongo mega camp and Apa LG was part of the state government’s commitment to alleviate the suffering of the displaced population.