Flooding causes cholera outbreak in Jigawa

Cholera outbreak has been reported in Taura council of Jigawa State, affecting 50 communities of Akasam village in Taura Council. This, reportedly, followed flooding that ravaged councils in the state.

The village head of Akasan, Arma Ya’u Muhammad, confirmed the outbreak of the disease, saying 50 persons, mostly children, were affected.

He noted that Save the Children International (SCI) supported the community, recently, with water purification and environmental sanitation materials.

“Save the Children International, in collaboration with a community based organisation, fumigated the village to guard against cholera and other diseases,” he said and urged the people to extend the sanitation exercise to other communities for better hygienic environment and to save children in the area.

SCI enumerator, Ibrahim Muhammadu Dankawu, explained that the organisation, concerned with the welfare of children, was worried over the situation threatening the health of the children in the area.

According to him, SCI has provided sanitation kits and other equipment that would help in promoting hygienic environment.

ALSO, a former Commissioner for Rural Development and Public Utilities, in Imo State Chief Chime Nzeribe, has lamented the destruction of his property worth about N50 million by flood in Owerri, the capital of Imo State.

Conducting journalists, yesterday, round the affected property, Nzeribe, regretted that himself and his wife, a medical doctor, were not at home when the flood sacked their home, destroying their property.

Seven cars parked on his premises were submerged.

According to him, the development forced him and his wife to take refuge in a hotel in Owerri.

The mechanical engineer blamed the disaster on an ongoing construction work by a firm contracted by the state government.

He said: “I lost property worth about N50 million to the flood, which ravaged my home I have lived in for over 20 years.

“The day it happened, my wife was on her way to America. She asked me, if she should do a detour, i said, will it reverse the flood? I asked her to continue her journey.”

REACTING to the developments, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN, has directed the chairmen of 125 branches to compile the list of NBA members directly affected by the flood so that NBA can help and bring succour to them and their families.

In a letter, dated October 24, 2022, addressed to the chairmen of the 125 branches, the NBA chair acknowledged that the floods have affected many Nigerians, including lawyers.

The letter reads: “Nothing will ever replace the lives that have been lost, but we can help by joining hands with relevant authorities to see that some form of material aid is made to alleviate the sufferings of the people, most especially our colleagues.”