Connect with us

Metro

Floods Kill At Least 49, Displace 41,344 In Nigeria

Published

on

Photo: File copy

At least 49 people have been killed and thousands displaced in Nigeria after heavy rains caused flooding in the northeast of the country, the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), said on Monday.

Three states in the northeast, Jigawa, Adamawa and Taraba, have been hit hard by floods, with 41,344 people displaced, said NEMA spokesperson Manzo Ezekiel.

In 2022, Nigeria experienced its worst flood in more than a decade which killed more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million and destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland.

Advertisement

We are just entering into the peak of the season, particularly in the northern part of the country and the situation is very dire,” Ezekiel told Reuters.

READ ALSO: Flood Submerges Bauchi Model School

The floods have also destroyed farmlands affecting around 693 hectares of agricultural land. Nigeria is battling double-digit inflation which has been stoked by high food prices.

Advertisement

Heavy rains have added to problems in the farming sector where farmers are deserting their farms in the northeast due to repeated attacks by militants.

The government in this year’s flood outlook said 31 of the country’s 36 states were at risk of experiencing “high flood”.

“We also have information about the high tide in the upper countries of the River Niger before Nigeria. All of these are flowing towards Nigeria. We are beginning to see a manifestation of our predictions,” Ezekiel said.

Advertisement

The agency had in July warned of major floods in certain Local Government Areas of Rivers State.

READ ALSO: Napoli Reach £26m Agreement With Man United To Sign Scott McTominay

Making this known in Port Harcourt during a workshop tagged ‘Downscaling of flood early warning strategies for early actions’, the director in charge of risk reduction at NEMA, Godwin Tepikor, had canvassed support from the Local Government authorities to mitigate the effects of the flood.

Advertisement

On his part, the Zonal director of the Agency, Babatunde Adebiyi, said that 13 local government areas have been identified, and the agency was working to prepare them for the coming flood.

Some of the high-risk LGAs identified include Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Degema, and Ahoada East and West among others.

The agency had also predicted that eight local government areas of Zamfara State would be affected by moderate flooding in the 2024 rainy season.

Advertisement

The agency’s Director-General in Zamfara, Zubaida Umar, who disclosed this listed the eight LGAs to include Bugundu, Gummi, Gusau, Bakura, Maradun Talata Mafara, Shinkafi, and Zurmi.

The Nigerian Hyrodological Services Agency (NIHSA) in the year 2024 Annual Flood Outlook, predicted that 31 states with 148 local government areas are to be within the high flood risk areas, while 35 states including FCT with 249 LGAs are considered to fall within the moderate flood risk areas, and the remaining 377 LGAs are forecasted for the low flood risk areas.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments

Metro

Soldier Sentenced To Death For Murder, Armed Robbery In Akwa Ibom

Published

on

Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced a dismissed soldier with the Nigerian Army, 6 Battalion, Ibagwa in Abak, Corporal Stephen Iweh, to death by hanging for the murder of a 42-year-old man, Christopher Enobong Jimmy.

The incident occurred on 23rd May, 2021, along the East-West Road in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.

The late Jimmy, who was the Manager of a Clearing and Forwarding Company in Port Harcourt, had offered Corporal Iweh a lift in his car from Trailer Park in Onne, Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom.

Advertisement

Along the way, at Oboro Junction in Ikot Abasi, the 39 year-old soldier shot him dead before fleeing with the vehicle and valuables.

READ ALSO:Man Dies Of Gunshot Inside Akwa Ibom Church, Police Begin Probe

Investigations revealed that Corporal Iweh, a father of three children, had illegally kept the AK-47 rifle which he said he “picked at Dambou, Borno State in 2018 and decided to keep it as personal arms”.

Advertisement

On the day of the killing, Corporal Iweh, was supposed to be on duty at the Army Store, 6 Battalion, Ibagwa, Abak, but abandoned his post to commit the crime.

He was later traced to Andy Guest House in Ukanafun, many kilometers from the scene of crime, where he was arrested and the rifle recovered.

In a judgment, the trial judge, Hon. Justice Bassey Nkanang held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Corporal Iweh, a native of Ameke Nkor in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, murdered Christopher Enobong Jimmy, an indigene of Ikot Abasi, robbed him of his Toyota Matrix car, while armed with an AK-47 rifle and unlawfully possessed the firearm without a license.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Akwa Ibom: Police Raid Shrine, Arrest Suspected Rapists, Recover Two Coffins, Sanitary Pads, Pictures

The late Jimmy, Manager of a Clearing and Forwarding Company in Port Harcourt, was travelling home in his grey Toyota Matrix, when he gave the soldier, who was in full military uniform, a lift, at the Trailer Park in Onne enroute Akwa Ibom State.

The soldier later shot Jimmy at a junction in Oboro, Ikot Abasi, where they had stopped to urinate and eat Pork meat, before fleeing with the vehicle and other belongings.

Advertisement

Justice Nkanang convicted him on a three-count charge. He was sentenced to death by hanging for murder, death by hanging for armed robbery, and 10 years imprisonment for unlawful possession of firearms.

In his plea for mercy, the convict begged the court for what he described as a “soft landing,” but his allocutus was rejected.

The late Christopher Jimmy is survived by his 34-year-old widow, Arit, who tearfully recounted that her husband had left Port Harcourt to visit his sister and family in Ikot Abasi, but did not return home.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Metro

Six Arrested For Alleged Killing Of Police Constable In Bayelsa

Published

on

Bayelsa State Police Command says it has arrested six suspected cultists for allegedly killing a police constable, Oboh Goodluck in the state.
‎The Commissioner of Police, CP Francis Idu, made this known at the funeral rites for the deceased on Friday in Yenagoa.

Goodluck was reportedly killed in OMPADEC area of Amarata community on his way to work by a cult group on August 19.

‎Idu said other key suspects identified to have been involved in the murder would soon be apprehended.

‎He warned attackers of police personnel to desist from it to avoid the wrath of the law.

READ ALSO:Bayelsa Education Ministry Denies Alleged Deductions From Contractors’ Payments

‎Idu assured the family of the deceased that his attackers would face justice. He also assured the rank and file that the top echelon of the Nigeria Police Force would always defend them.

‎The CP announced that a formal request would be sent to the Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa to make the site, where Goodluck was killed, a monument site to be remembered.

‎The representative of the Ayadei/Oboh family, Comrade Kwokwo Robert, while appreciating the Police authorities for the assistance in the final burial rites, called for justice for the late policeman.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Metro

Four Miners Feared Dead, Others Trapped As Illegal Mining Site Collapses In Plateau

Published

on

Four individuals have been confirmed dead while some others are still trapped after an illegal mining site collapsed in Dura community of Jos South local government area of Plateau State.

According to eyewitnesses, the tragic incident occured on Thursday night after youths in the area defied several warnings by the state government against engaging in illegal mining and sneaked into the site when local vigilantes who helped secure the mining site had closed for the day.

A resident of the community who narrated how the accident happened on conditions of anonymity, said so far, four bodies have been recovered from the collapsed mine while frantic search is currently ongoing to either rescue the trapped miners or more bodies.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Netanyahu’s Plane Takes Unusual Route To UN Summit

“We had a tragic situation in Dura community. A mining site collapsed last night. I don’t know the casualty figure, but I can confirm to you that some people were inside the pit,” the resident said while responding to a question.

An aide to Governor Caleb Mutfwang on Artisanal Mining, Solomon Dung, who also spoke on the collapsed mine, said he got information on Friday after that the mine collapsed on Thursday when some community youths were engaging in illegal mining at the site.

Advertisement

“It happened yesterday (Thursday) at Dura community. From what I was told, some boys were working in a mining pit, and the ground just collapsed on four of them.

“Three d!ed instantly, and one other person was taken to the hospital, and unfortunately, he also d!ed. I am just going to the community as I speak to you,” Dung said.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending