More than three million Nigerian have been rendered homeless due to the recent flooding that has affected most states across the country, according to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar.
The minister made the revelations less than 48 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari directed some ministers in his cabinet to liaise with state governments on how to respond to the disaster.
Casualties have risen to more than 600 Nigerians, with close to 400, 000 hectares of farmlands totally damaged, according to checks by the magazine.
States like Kogi, Bayelsa, Benue, Anambra, Kano have been worst hit due to the torrential rains that have been falling for weeks, and fear has mounted among not a few Nigerians after meteorologists predict that the worst is yet to come.
Farouq disclosed in a statement on Tuesday that the federal government is trying to bring relief to those that have been affected, noting that the government has distributed relief in 21 states so far.
The minister said the military and other para-military bodies are already working with emergency workers to ensure that relief materials get to areas where people are most at risk.
The statement said, “More than 1.4 million persons have been internally displaced; 2,776 persons were injured, 612 people lost their lives while 181,600 houses were partially damaged. Number of totally damaged houses was 123,807; 176,852 hectares of farmlands were partially damaged, while 392,399 hectares of farmlands have been totally damaged.
“A total of 21 states have received relief materials so far. They are Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, and the FCT. Others are Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe. Specialised teams are on the ground. There are some states and local governments that are inaccessible and hard to reach.
“Others are materials to assist with temporary shelters for displaced communities. These include roofing sheets, cement, nails, ceiling boards, blankets, nylon mats, and zinc.
“The operations are ongoing and I urge communities at risk to adhere to warnings and instructions issued by the teams as they work to protect and save lives. We hope that government organs such as Water Resources, Health, Works and Housing, Agriculture, and Environment ministries will give their own updates on operations to resolve the emergency.”
