Lack of drinking water has also affected Kogi State, especially Lokoja, the state capital, as if the current effects of the flood weren’t bad enough.
According to Saturday’s investigations by the DAILY POST, the area where the water is being treated and pumped for use by the general public was affected by the flood, which is what is to blame for the scarcity.
During a visit by reporters to a few homes in the Gadumo new neighbourhood near the River Niger, he discovered residents without water and pumps that were dry.
Under the condition of anonymity, a State Ministry of Water Resources official told newsmen that “we can only treat and pump water for public consumption when flood leaves this area.”
Some residents, such as Muhammed Aliu and Agnes Alabi among others in Gadumo, described the 2022 flood as more devasting, compared to that of 2012.
“In 2012 when Lokoja first witnessed this terrible natural disaster, I was one of those who accommodated some victims in my house as flood did not reach my house in Gadumo.
“Ironically, this year, I became one of the victims, water flooded my house, forcing me and my family to relocate to squat with a friend somewhere at Ibaji quarters in Lokoja,” Aliu said.
In a phone interview with newsmen, the Presiding Shepherd of Sword of Fire Evangelical Ministry, Pastor Ade Bada, described the impact of this year’s flood in Lokoja as “unimaginable.”
The cleric said, “with the situation we find ourselves in, the flood has added another costly agony to the pain on the ground.”
He prayed to Almighty God to show mercy on the state and its residents and cause a stop to the flood, sooner than later.
Pastor Bada prayed God to see the victims through the trying time in such a way that the effect of the flood will not be overwhelming on them and their families” he said
Some of the residents who turned up at the old market side of the town, to see the development, called on authorities in Cameron to stop releasing Lagdo dam water to check floods in Nigeria.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that the volume of water at the River Niger remained brim as of the time of this report, 11.28 am on Saturday, those around the old market also noted that it has not increased in 24 hours, thus raising the hope of receding soon.