higher water level in Hadejia River in Jigawa is threatening to wash away Hadejia Central Cemetery and Aguyaka and Guduchi villages.
The rise in the water level was triggered by days of heavy rain in the area.
Speaking with newsmen, yesterday in Hadejia, Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammad, the Council’s Chairman, expressed concern over the development.
“If this heavy rain continues, I assure you our cemetery as well as Aguyaka and Guduchin villages along the stretch of the Hadejia River will be washed away,” he said.
“I am appealing for support from the state government and non-governmental organisations to deal with this threat, perhaps by providing heavy equipment that can assist in building bigger and stronger embankment.
“On our part, we distributed thousands of sacks to residents to erect sand-bag embankment at the river.
“We engaged many youths in this exercise across this area; but the truth is dealing with this crises is beyond our capacity,” the chairman said.
Meanwhile, The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Sokoto Operations office, has organised a seven-day retreat for its staff on emergency response to build their capacity and professionalism.
No fewer than 30 participants are attending the training, which began on Tuesday in Gusau.
The theme for the training is: ‘Re-Engineering the Agency for Effective and Proactive Disaster Management’.
Speaking at the opening of the training, the head of Sokoto Operation’s office of the Agency, Dr Kofoworola Soleye, said the training would prepare the staff to respond pro-actively and rapidly to any emergency situation.
“It will also build their capacity on professionalism and emergency measures.
“This is an effort of the present leadership of the agency under the Director-General, Engr. Mustapha Maihaja.
“The aim is to reposition and re-engineer the agency to be a standard emergency response and management lead entity.
“The idea is to boost the staff capacity to do more and elevate our current level of expertise as we aspire to be a more professional outfit,” he said.
“The retreat will accord our staff to understand the direction which the agency is heading to, especially in the area of proactive disaster responses, ” Soleye added.