Five communities in Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State have been submerged by floods, forcing authorities to warn residents along riverbanks to relocate to safer grounds.

Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mouktar Atimah, said 258 communities across eight local government areas are flood-prone. “Forty-two IDP camps have been constructed to take care of those to be displaced while an emergency operations centre has been opened,” he said.

Atimah warned that water releases from dams will worsen the situation. “In the next 72 hours, the state will be entering a difficult period,” he said, listing Ota, Ofogbo, Itima and Owara as the worst-hit communities.

Kogi State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adams Abdullazeez, said the ministry has already begun fumigating IDP camps and mobilising health workers. “My ministry is aware that there may be outbreak of diseases or epidemic in the various IDP camps and we are fully prepared,” he said, commending Governor Usman Ododo for his quick interventions, which he noted prevented casualties during last year’s floods.

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