From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
As the flood recedes in parts of Makurdi, the Benue state capital, an environmentalist, Mr Victor Alobo, has advised the victims of flood disaster, who are returning to their homes, to as a matter of necessity, fumigate their homes against vectors and other dangerous reptiles.
He also called on them to also take deliberate steps to decontaminate their water sources to prevent an outbreak of water borne diseases.
Our correspondent who went to some places around Jimeta community in Wadata and behind Kucha Utebe along Gboko road in Makurdi, observed that some of the flood victims who were displaced from their homes are beginning to return as the flood water recedes.
Alobo, a consultant with the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Agency, NESRA, said ” People who are returning back to their homes must understand that there is a lot of contaminations of the environment.
“The waste management is not properly done flooding submerged in the environments for over two to three weeks now.
“So they are expected to see a lot of things like the vectors around, be it snakes and other things that are harmful to human beings.
“A lot of diseases emerges because the whole environment; sewages have contaminated the whole environment. So they need to fumigate and decontaminate their water sources.”
While some of the victims said they had to return to salvage what was left of their homes others whose houses are still inside the water said they have been hiring canoes to navigate flood water to their homes to ensure that the properties they left behind were still intact.
Some however complained that their houses has been destroyed by the flood and burgled by miscreants.
One of the flood victims, Lukman Bala said, “we used canoe to come and check our houses to see whether it was still intact but we discovered that the flood destroyed the houses. Some of the houses fell down.”
“Abdullahi Musa said “When we came back to check our houses, we discovered that some bad guys have entered and looted all our properties. Our ceiling fans, Televisions and other valuable items have been stolen.”
They called on the state and federal government to visit and assist them with food and other relief materials.
The Benue state government said it has began the distribution of relief materials to flood victims in Makurdi, Agatu and other affected Local government areas across the state while arrangement is also being made to procure more.
The Executive Secretary of Benue State Emergency and Management Agency, (SEMA), Dr Emmanuel Shior, had also disclosed that the agency has started taking delivery of relief materials from National Emergency Management Agency saying as soon as they receive all the items, they will be distributed to all person’s of concern.
Meanwhile over 116,084 people were displaced across 11 local government areas of the state.