Jigawa State Governor Umar Namadi said the death toll from flooding caused by rains has risen to 28 in the state.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how 16 people were killed and over 3,000 displaced by flood disasters in 10 local government areas of the state.
The governor said Tuesday the death toll had risen to 28, most of them caused by the collapse of buildings, mostly mud houses, on people overnight.
He said flooding as of Tuesday had affected 14 local government areas, around 40,000 people and more than 80,000 households.
The governor stated this while receiving members of the House of Representatives Committee on Ecological Fund, led by its Chairman, Aminu Jaji, on a visit to the state to assess the impact on the environment.
The governor said more than 7,000 homes were destroyed and more than 6,500 farmlands razed in more than 135 communities.
Mr Namadi warned that more devastation could be in store as the state's dams are blocked and water from the Tiga dam has not been released.
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Governor: Road projects need environmental impact assessment
The governor said the state did not expect flooding in August, but the blocking of water routes by federal highway projects caused early flooding.
“As the chairman of the Green Fund, you must look at the impact of climate change on people and also the impact of government projects. It is very necessary for the federal government to ensure that all federal road projects must undergo an environmental impact assessment before they can be carried out.
“In state road projects, we are responsible for the environmental impact assessment in the community where the road projects are being carried out. In some of the communities where environmental impact assessments have not been done, the communities have been submerged by water,” said the governor.
The governor gave the example of Kiyawa and parts of Buji Local Government Area which were affected by floods before the reconstruction of the Kano/Maiduguri road.
Namadi said the flooding in the affected areas is due to the impact of the road project, noting that the road was elevated and villages were submerged, preventing rainwater from draining away. “Environmental impact assessment for federal and state road projects is very necessary. Otherwise, people will continue to suffer from flooding,” Namadi said.
In his earlier remarks, Mr Jaji said the visit was aimed at discussing the state's ecological challenges, which he described as huge and deserving of the attention of the federal government through the ecological office.
“The purpose of the visit was to learn about some areas that could be of interest and benefit from this tour.
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“The tour is aimed at selecting some states among the other 36 states in the federation that deserve special intervention in the areas of ecological challenges to complement the effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his renewed hope agenda to address the issue of climate change and food security.
'Jigawa State is located in the Sahel region. During our analysis and assessment we looked at so many measures and indicators which led us to visit Jigawa to find ways to mitigate some of the challenges.
“One of the ecological challenges we face is desertification and deforestation, which affects all the states of the Sahel. Our goal was to achieve sustainable land management, which will bring innovations and ideas to address ecological challenges.
“We plan to visit some areas of the state to see for ourselves. We had to promise that we would change the way we do things and tackle the problems in the right way.
“The usual way of doing things at the green office is not encouraging; we want to address the issue in a proper, correct and timely manner. We are in Jigawa to ensure that the state benefits from the resolution of the national level committee. Very soon, the people of Jigawa will see the impact of the visit,” Mr Jaji said.