Deputy Governor of Niger State Yakubu Garba, who declared this when Federal Government delegates paid a condolences visit to the state yesterday, said besides the loss of lives, two major roads and three bridges were also swept off.
The de@th toll from the devastating flood in Mokwa, Niger State, has risen to 151, with many more still reported missing.
Similarly, 503 households and 265 physical houses have been identified to be affected.
Deputy Governor of Niger State Yakubu Garba, who declared this when Federal Government delegates paid a condolences visit to the state yesterday, said besides the loss of lives, two major roads and three bridges were also swept off.
The Federal Government delegation was led by the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris and had the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda in the entourage.
The Deputy Governor told the delegation that those displaced have already been put in a temporary camp which he described as not habitable enough.
He disclosed that the state government has directed those residing in the flood-prone areas to vacate immediately to avoid similar disaster.
The Deputy Governor said steps have been taken by government to ascertain the root cause of the disaster in order to guide against future occurrence especially now that the rainy season has come.
Professor Nentawe Yilwatda while speaking with journalists described the incident as a big tragedy, adding that it is a wake-up call to abreast with the the much talked about climate change and plan ahead.
“We have come to live with climate change and climate change makes it unpredictable for you to accurately predict natural disasters and that is why we are having this problem. This is a very big tragedy and the federal government sees it as such.
“Floods are natural disasters but the humans also have to play their own roles to mitigate such and of course, the federal and state governments are in collaboration to ensure that we actually reduce this menace to the barest minimum.
“As of April 2025, the federal government opened a bid for the construction of stormwater drainage in Mokwa specifically and Mashegu. The bid has been opened, the selection is ongoing and in the nearest days, not even up to a month, you will see contractors actually mobilizing to the site and that is our hope,” he revealed.
The minister called on the people to move away from the water banks to avoid similar disaster.
“This is a disaster that has happened too many times. And it is just the beginning of the rainy season. We don’t wish anything worse than this to happen, but we also have to take steps to ensure that we mitigate the reoccurrence of this kind of tragedy,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, local divers are still in frantic operation towards rescuing more corpses.
Some of the corpses were recovered in Mokwa town after the torrential rainfall while others were recovered in Rabba Community, near Mokwa town while those recovered have been given mass burial while those identified by their relatives were taken away for burial.
