Katsina: Succour For 2015 Flood Victims

Recently, help came the way of families who were displaced by a horrendous flood incidence that affected several communities across 17 local government areas of Katsina state in 2015 as the Aliko Dangote-led presidential committee on flood relief donated relief materials worth millions of naira to them.

In Katsina state as in most states of the federation, one of the defining features of 2015 was the flood disaster which swept across 50 per cent of the council areas in the state, leading to destruction of lives and property.

The 2015 rainy season, like those in the recent past, left behind tales of woe as rainstorms wreaked havoc on houses and other property across the state, washed farmlands and killed animals, with no less than 10 flood incidences recorded in numerous communities.

Many families were displaced as a result of the flood which affected many households.

From the ancient city of Daura to Bakori, Musawa, Malumfashi, Faskari and a host of other communities, the tale of woes occasioned by the flood rent the air as residents narrated their ordeals.

In the wake of the incident, the Katsina State Emergency management agency (SEMA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), were on hand to provide support to the victims to cushion the effect of the disaster.

But as it is often said, no amount of help is too much for someone in a disaster situation.

Perhaps it was in appreciation of this fact and in line with its mandate of providing succour to victims of flood and other disasters across the nation that the Aliko Dangote-led committee provided relief materials to the flood victims recently.

The committee donated items including foodstuff, building materials, clothing and drugs to the victims.

A member of the presidential committee on flood relief, Sani Lugga, said the donation was aimed at assuaging the sufferings of the victims.

He lamented that scores of those who pledged to donate funds or materials in support of flood victims did not fulfil their promises.

Lugga who holds the traditional title of Wazirin Katsina, appealed to all those who made pledges to kindly redeem them so as to help in further cushioning the effect of the disaster on the victims.

The Executive Secretary of SEMA, Dr Aminu Garba Waziri, recalled that the 2015 flood disaster swept across 17 council areas of the state with property worth millions of naira destroyed.

He said both the Katsina state government and NEMA provided immediate relief materials to assuage the sufferings of the victims but pointed out that no amount of donation was too much.

He said all the materials donated had been distributed to the victims and assured that the recent donation by the presidential committee would also be given to the real victims.

While lauding the committee for the support, Waziri listed the items donated to include drugs, building materials, foodstuffs and clothing.

LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that 100 bags each of millet, sorghum and rice, 80 bags of beans, 200 mats, 600 bundles of roofing sheet,100 mattresses and 800 bags of cement were donated to the victims.