Heavy rains and thunderstorms expected in parts of Nigeria this week as NiMet issues flood warning.
Severe flooding has destroyed over 300 farmlands and claimed one life in Nasarawa State, raising fresh concerns about food security and residents’ reluctance to heed evacuation warnings.
The Director General of the Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA), Mr. Benjamin Akwash, confirmed the devastation in Nasarawa, Kokona, and Doma Local Government Areas during a news briefing in Lafia, after an on-the-spot assessment.
Akwash lamented that despite repeated sensitisation campaigns and warnings from relevant agencies, many residents in high-risk flood zones remain unwilling to relocate.
“People are finding it difficult to move to safer grounds. They prefer to remain on their ancestral lands despite repeated alerts from authorities. This is unacceptable. We cannot continue to play laxity with human lives,” he stated.
The NASEMA boss described the flooding as a setback to the state’s efforts at achieving food sufficiency, revealing that hundreds of hectares of farmland and crops were completely submerged.
He added that the government is working on a long-term flood prevention strategy to reduce annual disasters, moving beyond reactive relief interventions.
Akwash disclosed that relief materials, including food and non-food items, will soon be distributed to victims across the affected communities.
He further appealed to residents of riverine areas, particularly in Doma, Nasarawa, Toto, Awe, and Kokona LGAs, to relocate as rains peak.
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