A team comprising various organisations under the United Nations arrived in Maiduguri on an assessment visit over the Alau Dam flood disaster.
BRANDPOWER reports that the team which also comprised International and National NGOs led by UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Mohamed Fall, arrived in Maiduguri on Saturday.
The team which visited camps to interact with victims also paid solidarity visits to Gov. Babagana Zulum and later interacted with the press.
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Speaking, Fall assured the government and people of Borno of UN support in addressing the challenges.
“We are all with you in sympathy and solidarity and we will translate it into action.
“I want to tell you that we will not spare any of our resources in this response.
“We will refocus resources designed for some other interventions to see how we can bring them towards scaling up this response,” Fall said.
He said that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would do a comprehensive post disaster assessment looking at setting up a recovery plan.
Responding, Gov. Zulum thanked the UN delegation for its series of interventions in the state, while assuring the government commitment to collaborate with them.
Zulum, who spoke on the magnitude of destruction caused by the flood, urged the UN agencies to first focus on the immediate needs of the victims such as food, health, shelter, water sanitation and hygiene.
“We need to immediately start fumigation of areas identified as safe to guard against outbreaks and to make them ready for people to go back to their homes.”
He said that some people using schools as camps need to be supported to go back to their homes within the shortest possible time to enable children to go back to school.
“Our children have suffered from lack of education for a long time due to insurgency and we cannot afford to miss this session completely.”
The governor said that with support from reliable partners, his administration would not allow the flood incident to deter it from pursuing its development plan.
BRANDPOWER reports that the more than 414,000 people were displaced by the Tuesday’s devastating flood in Maiduguri.
The Head of Public Information, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Abuja, Ann Weru, stated this in a Media Advisory.
Weru said that the data was collected by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as at Sept. 11.
“NEMA’s records also show that 37 people died, and about 58 people sustained injuries,” she said.
Access to hospitals, schools and markets, she added, had been hampered.
“Damages to infrastructure, including bridges, were recorded.
“Evacuation of people in high-risk areas to safer ground is ongoing, amid concerns about the risk of disease outbreaks,” she said.
Baseless Assurance by Borno Government on Dam Safety
Meanwhile, BRANDPOWER reports that the Borno State Government had earlier on September 5 assured the residents of Maiduguri and environs that the area could not be submerged by water as efforts were ongoing to check the seasonal flooding resulting from overflow of Alau Dam.
Alau Dam with a reservoir capacity of 112 million cubic meters was designed to support irrigation activities on the Alau river bank and to supply tap water in Maiduguri Metropolitan and Jere local government areas.
Parts of Maiduguri and Jere as of that time were flooded as the Alau Dam overflown into residential areas.
Arise News reports that the Secretary to Borno State Government, Alhaji Bukar Tijani who went around on Thursday to assess the Alau Dam and damages present overflow has caused, assured residents that the Dam is not broken.
The SSG added that the state government is working with the Chad Basin Development Authority to take steps to protect Maiduguriri from flooding.
He said, “There have been a lot of worries as well as speculations that the whole Dam has broken down, but the dam has not broken down.”
“We have been to Alau Dam on behalf of His Excellency, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, Executive Governor of Borno State.
“Borno State Government is partnering very strongly with the managers of Alau Dam. We have discussed and seen what to do, but the rumour of Maiduguri being flooded is not there”, he assured.
He said Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, has sent a high-powered delegation to assess the impact of water overflow at Alau Dam which is threatening Maiduguri Metropolis and its environs.
The delegation comprises Engr Baba Bukar Gujibawu, SA to the Governor on Monitoring and Evaluation, Engr Adam Bababe, Executive Secretary, Borno Geographic Information Service, Engr Sadu Auno, Executive Secretary, Borno State Road Maintenance Agency and the Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Mohammed Saidu Barkindo.
While briefing the SSG, Zannah disclosed that despite the high water level in the river which led to overflow, the present conditions do not pose a severe threat to the city, noting that all necessary measures were put in place to control the situation.
