Date: 2017-10-09

Worried by the recent floods that ravaged communities in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State, the State and Federal Governments have been called upon to assist the victims of the disaster.

The council's Transition Implementation Committee (TIC), Mallam Mohammed Yahaya Bariki, made the appeal on Sunday, in Ilorin, the State capital while speaking with newsmen. Bariki who blamed the occurrence on the overflow of River Niger from its banks, lamented that his council area was experiencing devastating effects of heavy downpour in the past few weeks.

"The recent floods have washed away thousands of hectares of farm lands with crops worth millions of Naira, while some settlements along the riverrine areas submerged most of the victims whose farms remain their major sources of income", he added.

The Council boss further lamented that the flood phenomena was unprecedented in the history of disaster in the area, describing the occurrence as "terrible and distress not only to the farmers in the area but also portend dangers for the food security of the state.

Patigi Local Government Area, he maintained, is one of the food baskets of Kwara State and Nigeria in general, stressing the need for the Federal and State Governments to intervene in the plights of the victims.

He said: "In the circumstances of this widespread disaster, it is my view that only fullest intervention of Government at both Federal and State levels that can adequately provide reliefs for the distressed and displaced people."

According to him, the perennial floods will have adverse effects on the production of rice and other food crops in the Council area.

The Council boss, however, urged governments to come to the aid of the residents and farmers in the area as a matter of urgency, while commending the present administration in the State for all its supports in the realms of infrastructural developments in the area.