With over 600 families now at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps following flood havoc, CAJETAN MMUTA, captures the mood of the affected people

Like the mysterious, magical, tearful, and sorrowful coming and going of an ‘abiku’, the agrarian people of Ogbaru, Anambra West, Anambra East, Ayamelum, Awka North, and Ihiala Local Government Areas of Anambra state, have for months been webbed in tearful fate.

The residents are not always lucky each year with the passage of the yearly rainy season. This is because the annual rainfall which ordinarily should bring about much-expected joy and good tidings as an area reputed for its huge agricultural produce and business enterprise ends up leaving them in the throes of seeming perpetuity of helplessness and dejection.

Sadly, each rainy season in Ogbaru and neighbouring riverine communities closer to the brinks or banks of the River Niger comes with a heavy bang of stormy devastations. Usually, the people and residents are left at the mercy of rippling effects stirred by a wavy overflow of the country’s popular river, which dredging has been the subject of economic and political controversies.

No doubt, it has been years of recurring devastations, anguish, pains, and sorrow, particularly, to the peasant farmers and locals who like a ritual, are annually locked in a ritual nightmare.

This year 2022 seems to have taken grave and irreconcilable effect given the huge wastes that famine now stares the people of the most affected local government areas and the entire states in the South-East geo-political zone of the nation, on their faces.

More worrisome is the fact that with the prevailing harsh economic realities and astronomical rise in the prices of farm inputs and other domestic needs of the people as well as the sharp rise in the exchange rate per dollar, it will be hard for one to recover from the magnitude of both economic and food crops that have gone to the wind due to the latest flood disaster.

It becomes gravely precarious that the state government can do little or nothing to salvage the pitiable situation that people are contending with. Also, the flood rage is coming when it is near empty or zero the allocation that accrues to Anambra state and other states across the country while the various chief executives in the states and local government areas sweat it out on monthly basis to garner paltry sums as internally generated revenue (IGR) to meet with pressing needs of government and governance at their respective levels.

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Last week, a former member of the House of Representatives and 2023 candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for Ogbaru federal constituency in the forthcoming election, Victor Ogene, raised the alarm over the menacing and threatening effects of the flood as hundreds of victims of the disaster flee their homes, billions of naira worth of properties destroyed in the process.

An estimated 600 families have so far been displaced and many buildings submerged as the flood wreaked havoc on more than 13 communities.

Investigations showed that this year’s havoc also sacked many schools, churches, and markets while farmlands and crops have been ravaged.

The ugly situation has worsened the plight of people and residents of the communities across the Ogbaru local government area and other parts of the federal constituency even as famine looms large as millions of naira worth of farm crops have been washed away in the process.

Ogene also called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), to urgently come to the rescue of the people and residents of Ogbaru Local Government Area, Anambra state, over the flood disaster ravaging the area.

He attributed the flood disaster to the overflow of the River Niger and continuous heavy downpour (torrential rainfall) in the riverine local government area.

According to Ogene, hundreds of houses, farms, and other businesses in Ogbaru, have been swallowed up by the horrendous flood, leaving many people in agony, sorrow, tears, and hopelessness.

He named some of the affected communities as Ogwu Ikpele, Akili Ogidi, Obeagwe, Ossomala, Umunankwo, Ogbakuba, Ochuche, Akili Ozizor, Atani, Ohita, and Odekpe. Other areas devastated by the ravaging flood include Amiyi, Iyiowa, Ogbeukwu, Okoti, and parts of Okpoko.

The ex-lawmaker, who paid a visit to some of the ravaged areas, said, “It is pathetic. It is a terrible sight in Ogbaru as a result of the flood disaster. The human and environmental conditions here are pathetic and require urgent action from the government to alleviate the sufferings of the despondent victims, most of whom have lost all their belongings to the flood disaster.”

Ogene noted, “These flood victims that cut across several communities, urgently need relief materials and other assistance from government and its agencies, such as NEMA and SEMA.”

He called on the agencies to rise to their responsibility and bring urgent succour to the people of Ogbaru, who are currently besieged by flooding, to avert the outbreak of health challenges associated with such incidents.

In addition, the Ogwuikpele and Akali Ogidi communities which are located at the fringe of the River Niger, are not left out in the pitiable environmental devastation caused by the flood.

At the moment, the villagers and residents in those communities are living at the mercy of nature. President General of Ogwuikpele community, Madupuo Sunday Victor, in an interview with newsmen said, “As it stands now a lot of homes have been lost and several families have relocated and the number is more than three hundred based on the ones we can easily remember.”

He explained, “We are living very close to the River Niger and it has overflown its banks and this is just the beginning and we do not have any Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) where these people can stay.”

According to him, “We need medical attention and we also need relief materials because the children and nursing mothers are now vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. On his part, President General of Akiri- Ogidi community Michael Chukwuse described the menace as one that has caused untold hardship to the people in the area.

“We call on both the federal and state government to come to our help at the moment because we do not have the presence of the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA and the State Emergency Management Agency SEMA cannot shoulder the responsibility alone,” he said.

The state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Felix Odumegwu, said the state government has commenced inspection and understudy of the affected communities, adding that soon the Internally Displaced Camps would be established for the victims.

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He said, “Flooding is an act of nature and it is a natural disaster but we started early to carry out awareness campaigns before the flood and we are currently interfacing with the NEMA and our SEMA to assist flood victims.”

Odumegwu stated that Medical Teams have been deployed to the affected communities to assist the victims.

Following the worsening situation, the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has established 13 Internally Displaced Camps ahead of evacuating victims to the camps.

The Executive Secretary of the agency, Mr. Paul Odenigbo said the government has concluded arrangements towards evacuating the victims to those camps. Already, the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has collaborated with National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to embark on an assessment tour of flood-affected communities in the state to ascertain its current water level.

The assessment was carried out in Anambra West, Anambra East, Ayamelum, Ogbaru, Awka North, and Ihiala Local Government Areas (LGAs). According to Odenigbo, the essence was to aid the NEMA and SEMA teams in reporting the current situation to the Federal and State Governments, respectively.

Also speaking, the South-East Zonal Coordinator, NEMA, Mr. Thinkman Tanimu, assured that his agency would ensure they collaborate with SEMA in getting succor to the people affected by the flood.

He noted that during their early warning sensitization visits with SEMA to some communities in the state, farmers were advised to harvest their farm input before the flood comes.

The zonal coordinator, however, pleaded with the flood victims to move into holding camps provided for them by the state while they await succour from the government. Odenigbo noted, “One essence of this joint tour with NEMA and SEMA is to avail the Agencies the opportunity of having first-hand information on the extent of the havoc caused by the flood in the state and report back to the government.”

According to him, preparations were on to evacuate the flood-displaced persons into holding camps until the waters recede.

The SEMA boss, therefore, urged the federal government to build embankments on rivers to stop water from ravaging people.

On his part, the Transition Committee Chairman (TCC), Anambra West Local Government Area, Mr Felix Ikechi, who was part of the Assessment team, commended SEMA and NEMA for their untiring efforts towards mitigating plights of the people.

He appealed to the State Government to come to their aid as their communities have been completely submerged. “Our farmlands, schools, and churches are already underwater,” he said.

An indigene of Enugu-Otu, Aguleri town, Mr Amaechi Uyamadu, stated that the 2022 flood was like that of the year 2012. According to him, his house has been submerged by water, adding that he has since relocated his wife and some of his children to the holding centre while returning to convey the rest of his family members by boat.

“We are tired of this kind of life,” he said. He appealed to the Federal and State Governments to find a lasting solution to the flood menace and to provide assistance to them.