Flood destroys 115 houses

The SokotoState Emergency Management Agency ( SEMA) said that the flood that occurred in Butuku-Babba village of Bodinga Local Government Area on June 25 destroyed 115 houses.

The Director-General of the Agency, Alhaji Hassan Maccido, made the disclosure at a news conference in Sokoto on Wednesday while reacting to pleas by victims of the disaster for urgent assistance.

He added that "it was based on the team's report that we sent a memorandum to Gov. Aminu Tambuwal on what to provide as relief materials to the victims.

"The governor had since approved some money, which we would use to buy the items and donate to the victims as soon as possible."

According to him, the items include building materials and food items, to alleviate the sufferings of the victims.

The director-general then appealed to the victims to be patient with government as it would soon come to their rescue.

Earlier, some of the victims had lamented that 13 days after the disaster, only one businessman based in Bodinga town, Alhaji Sahabi Bojo, had assisted them with N200,000.

The Hamlet Head of the area, Alhaji Magaji Mallam and another victim, Malam Barmo Abubakar, had called for urgent assistance from the three tiers of government and other emergency management agencies.

Two other victims, Sanusi Butuku and Umaru Danhashe told newsmen that "we need urgent assistance of food items and building materials to enable us to rebuild our houses.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that no human life was lost as a result of the disaster.

However, no fewer than 25 livestock were lost, while farmlands, farm produce and stored food items were destroyed by the disaster.