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Niger urges residents of riverine areas to relocate

By John Ogiji, Minna
03 August 2016   |   1:15 am
As the rains set in proper, the Niger state government yesterday, advised people in the riverine communities to move to the up land to avoid being cut off by flood. Government advice is not unconnected with the increase...
Jonathan Tsado Vatsa

Jonathan Tsado Vatsa

As the rains set in proper, the Niger state government yesterday, advised people in the riverine communities to move to the up land to avoid being cut off by flood. Government advice is not unconnected with the increase in the intensity of the rain in most parts of the state and the warning by the Nigerian Metrological Center that the state is among those likely to witness severe flood this rainy season.

The government, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Jonathan Vatsa and made available to newsmen in Minna, the state capital, said the warning had become necessary because it could not watch people loose their lives and property as a result of flood.The government noted however that it was aware of the traditional and religious attachment of the people to their ancestral homes, but that this notwithstanding, their safety was paramount to the administration.

Niger state government is concerned especially now that the Nigeria metrological agency has warned of impending flood disasters in some states, including Niger state.
“We are calling on the people to be careful and not to allow the flood to come before they start taking safety measures” the commissioner stated.

He continued: “We understand the attachment that some of the riverine communities have to their ancestral home because of their vocations mostly fishing and farming but we are advising them to at least move away until the river banks are free from overflow”

“We are aware that the people living downstream of Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro dams are often more vulnerable.“The government is appealing to them to move up land till the rain subsides because we cannot afford the kind of loss recorded in the past” he added.

It would be recalled that the state had witnessed massive floods as a result of heavy rainfall and the overflow of water from the three hydro dams at Shiroro, Jebba and Kainji which caused colossal damages to farm lands, households and loss of lives.Vatsa therefore assured that the government in its usual people oriented approach will do everything within the meager available resources to ensure that the people are not devastated by the predicted flood in the state.

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