Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello has raised the alarm that 10 local governments in his state have been overtaken by flood .
Speaking to State House correspondents yesterday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential Villa, the governor lamented that Kogi has been the worst hit by the flood.
Recall that no fewer than 200 communities have been submerged by flood in Kogi/Koton-karfe local government area of Kogi State washing away communities and displacing thousands of residents.
The state government had last month set up five camps to accommodate about 64 of the communities displaced by flood in Koton-karfe last month. This week, the state government further set up temporary camps for victims of flood in Lokoja, as more houses get submerged in the confluence state.
The governor yesterday expressed appreciation to the president for directing relevant agencies to come to the aid of the state.
However, he pointed out that the state still needs more relief materials,saying the resources of the state have been stretched thin.
He said, “as usual I came to brief Mr. President about the happenings in my state periodically.I am sure you are all aware of the flood problem that is happening all over the country and Kogi is worst hit being a confluence state.
“So we are worst hit and I needed to come and present the report to himself myself. I sincerely appreciate Mr President for deploying relevant agencies like NEMA and all the security agencies to come to our aid.
“As I speak to you, NEMA is on their way to Lokoja to access the level of damage and we received substantial amount of relief materials so far, but it is not enough. I need to present the report to him as well and also to tell him about the security of the state and how we are doing.
“We are doing very well and I thank all the security agencies who have been assisting us to make sure we curb insecurity in the state.
“We experience this periodically.In 2012, we were worst hit, we are praying that the situation will not exceed that this year. We are normally proactive to sensitize the people and evacuate them to high ground.
“We have created over 33 camps in Kogi State.As I speak with you, between nine to ten local governments are under water, you can imagine the pressure on our resources. So, we are doing our best in collaborating with federal agencies and security agencies to make sure that we evacuate them to high grounds, IDP camps and provide security to them and relief materials including medicals.
The governor also boasted that Kogi will double the votes given to Buhari in 2019, assuring that it will be a clean sweep for the APC in the state .
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