The Kogi State Government has expressed happiness that unlike in 2012, during the flood, the Greater Lokoja Water Works is not threatened.
Kogi State Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi and Chairman Flood Management Committee, stated this when he visited the Greater Lokoja Water Works. The Deputy Governor’s visit to the facility followed the increase in the water level in the River Niger while assessing the impact of flooding on some communities in Lokoja Local Government Area of the State.
Awoniyi described the embankment build by the administration of Capt Idris Wada after the 2012 flood as a well thought out project, said the embankment has provided an elevation that has saved the Dam from future flooding.
Awoniyi assured the people of the present administration’s commitment to the provision of potable water to Lokoja metropolis and other parts of the state, described the level of water though as high, but assured that it had no negative impact on the water facility.
Awoniyi mentioned the provision of water, electricity, medicals, food and security as a top priority in the camps that would be set up for internally displaced persons from the area, assured of adequate efforts aimed at cushioning the suffering of people affected by the flood, through the establishment of Camps and the provision of relief materials.
Awoniyi however appealed to people of Lokoja to always be weary of where the build their houses disclosing that, as a result of climate change, flooding has become an annual occurrence, and lokoja being a river basis, people living in the coastline are susceptible to flooding.
Also speaking, AVM Gabriel Abdul, Special Adviser to the Governor on Emergency and Disaster Management, the SSA1 of Kogi and Ajaokuta Local Government Areas of the State, Hon. Mohammed Yusuf and Abubakar Sadiq, said the present experience has caused untold hardship on some
communities but expressed confidence in the efforts displayed by the government in tackling the effect of the flood.
