Flood sacks 100 villages in Niger – NEMA

The Niger State Coordinator of the National Emergency
Management Agency, Mr. Lugard Bijimi, on Thursday confirmed
that no fewer than 100 villages have been overtaken by the flood
as a result of the release of water by three hydro-electric dams
at Shiroro, Jebba and Kainji.
It was learnt that the flood disaster had spread across more
than five local government areas including Shiroro, Lavun,
Mokwa and Lapai.
Bijimi confirmed that 70 villages were affected in Lavun LGA, 10
in Lapai, 10 in Mokwa and over 20 villages in Shiroro LGA.
He said the agency had visited the affected villages to assess
the damages while palliative measures had been put in place to
lessen the sufferings of the victims.
He added, “We are in touch with the Niger State Government and
we are consulting on the best way to come to the assistance of
the affected people. However, we are of the view that relocating
the people from the flood disaster prone areas would be the
permanent solution to the problem.”
The State  Coordinator explained that the managements of the
hydro electric dams had warned residents of the villages, of the
imminent release of water early last month, adding that it was
certain that the dams had started spillage in phases.
“There is high water level in the dams and they need to release
some of the water to avert danger,” he added.
He said no life was lost in the disaster, urging the people to
always be alert in their response to flooding.