By Mohammed Nasir Shuaibu (Bauchi State Correspondent)
The affected people in 8 local government areas and 56 communities in Bauchi state have urged the government at all levels to come to their aid to assist them ahead of the impending flooding in their respective areas.
The call was made by the district head in Bauchi, Alhaji Nuru Adamu Jumba, during a Sensitization Engagement on Flood Disaster Preparedness and Response organized for stakeholders in Bauchi. They said the meeting is timely considering the present situation in the State. Jumba said the identified 56 communities and 8 local government areas are in dire need of government intervention in mitigating and reducing the effects of flooding ahead of the NiMET prediction. According to him, "This meeting was the first of its kind in the State where communities are coming from different locations to brainstorm and come up with solutions on a particular issue that is affecting them like this one of flooding".
He called on the communities, the religious leaders and the general public to support the government in achieving its tasks to mitigate the effects of persistent flooding.
In his response, the Director General of the Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA), Dr Ibrahim Kabir, who doubled as the State Coordinator, Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project, said the State government has put the necessary measures in place to mitigate the effects of the impending flood in identified areas in the state.
According to him, the government has already set a team of medical experts that wouldn't work 24 hours a day in all the IDPs camps of the affected communities. He disclosed that this stakeholders meeting is one of the major task by the present government with a view to brainstorm on the how, why and ways of solving the situation.
He further disclosed that the agency had also constituted a number of community engagement officers to work with the affected communities in identifying the major issues and proper solutions within the community level.
The DG named the local government prone areas as Bauchi, Zaki, Gamawa, Itas Gadau, Giade, Jama'are, Kirfi and Shira Corroborating, the representative of the Bauchi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Adamu Na Yola and Nuru Kobi, all attributed the situation as man made. They urged the people to work with the government in the areas of advises and directives to save the lives of their families. NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper Correspondent, reports that the meeting was attended by experts and heads of the various organisations including SEMA, NOA, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment and Housing and Environment among others. NNL.
