BY DAHIRU SULEIMAN, DUTSE.
No fewer than five hundred thousand households in five local government areas in Jigawa State have been rendered homeless, in addition losing farm produce to flood.
The affected council areas are Dutse, Ringim, Birnin-Kudu, Gwaram, and Hadejia.
The most recent devastation was the one that occurred in Gwaram local government area where flood ransacked over ten major towns and villages of the area.
Also affected were Maruta, Kadale, among other places where the flood submerged schools, mosque and destroyed over 150,000 houses and farm produce.
In Dutse, and Ringim, the flood ravaged areas of 744 housing quarters, Yakasawa, Yammadi villages, Kachi, Zai, among other major towns and villages in the two councils.
Other places affected included Guru, Kiri-kasamma, and Hadejia, where it claimed seven lives, with over 700 houses destroyed, alongside destroying farm produce.
Most of the affected victims interviewed attributed the occurrence of the flood to in-sensivity of the state government over poor attitude towards taking preventive measure’s despite early warning by Nigerian Metrological Agency NASMET, and weather experts who predicted that Jigawa alongside other five North- western states will experience flood this year.
Other measures ignored include poor clearing of major culverts, and erection of drainages in major town and cities of jigawa state including Dutse metropolitan being the state capital, as it was been patronized yearly by preceding administrations.
Commenting, a senior government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, debunked the claim, saying ” we do provide enough money across the 27 LGA’s of Jigawa state for the purpose of clearing our drainages and culverts annually before commencement of the rainy season.”
“All what has been raised was nothing short of political statements due to blind attacks by mischievous politician’s for cheap popularity ” he concluded.