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Flooding: CEPEJ Calls On Federal Government To Take Drastic Steps

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14 States To Experience Heavy Flood In 2023 - [See Full List]
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Centre For Peace Lament Destruction Caused By Flood

The federal government has been called upon to put up measures  that will bring lasting solutions to the persistent flooding that has caused nightmares for many communities in Nigeria.

The director of the Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), Comrade Sheriff Mulade, made the call in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri yesterday.

Mulade lamented that countless lives have been cut, short while properties worth millions of naira are  lost to the ravaging flood.

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It will be noted that the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NMA) had warned of the impending disaster in 11 states including Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Kaduna, Kwara, Nasarawa, Yobe and Zamfara. 

However, not much was done by relevant government agencies to avert the situation. Mulade, in his statement, therefore appealed to the federal and state governments, international civil society organizations, private sectors as well as well-meaning individuals to join CEPEJ to provide assistance, especially in resettling flood victims in the country.

He said “As a non-governmental organization with a special focus on environmental justice, we are sensitizing the people living within the affected areas and call for adequate relief materials to the victims and to properly resettle them.

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“CEPEJ is also by this means advocating that the federal government provides continued assistance in the resettlement efforts towards finding a permanent solution to the problem of flooding in Nigeria. We are deeply saddened that several lives have been lost to the annual flooding in the affected areas, homes and farmlands have been destroyed, means of livelihood brought to an abrupt halt and farm produce worth millions of naira have also been destroyed.

“CEPEJ hopes that as part of the Federal Government’s long term measures, the construction of buffer dams on the long stretch of the Niger be considered, to intermittently break wild water tides and avoid future re-occurrence”, he said.

He also stressed that victims have not been reached with aids adding that suffering is on the increase for cases where it was practically impossible to send relief materials or evacuate the victims.

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In September, as earlier reported by Naija News, national disaster was declared in the worst four affected states; Anambra, Delta, Kogi and Niger States with NEMA releasing a report that about 327,052 people are affected in the flooded states with over 70 casualties.

Also, an outbreak of malaria and water borne diseases has been reported, just as displaced persons are currently being hosted in emergency shelters such as local government offices, schools, stadiums, churches and internally displaced persons (IDP) hostels built by Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation.