Following the flood disaster which claimed four lives in Niger state, and displaced thousands in Adamawa and Yobe states, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has asked the federal government to immediately build buffer dams around Lagdo Dam in northern Cameroon to prevent loss of more lives.

The Director General of NEMA, Mohammed Sidi told a news conference that “the agency had done its homework by activating all mitigating strategies as soon as it received a warning from the Cameroon authorities of an impending release of water from the Lagdo Dam”.

NEMA asked state governments to put measures in place to prevent impending floods and its attendant risk to lives.

The agency also announced the rehabilitation of affected communities in Adamawa State where over 10,000 people have been displaced.

According to NEMA, if the country must break the often predictable and annually repetitive flooding across the country, it is necessary for governments to go back to the drawing board to design and implement effective disaster management agenda.

The agency also said that the Federal Government must ensure that effective disaster management and rescue measures are put in place from local council to the federal level.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has announced plans to build a dam to prevent the yearly flood being experienced by residents of Adamawa state as a result of the excess flow of water from Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon.

The Minister of Water Resource, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe disclosed this in Yola on Tuesday, saying that as matter of urgency the federal government will look for a lasting solution to the disaster caused by the Lagdo Dam.

The Minister was in the Adamawa state with the Minister of Environment Hajia Hadiza Mailafiya to evaluate the damages and to commiserate with the state government over the loss of lives and properties caused by the flood in the state.

According to Mrs Ochekpe, the federal government had sent relief materials to the affected people as she also expressed the government’s plan to evacuate those stranded in the affected areas.

She further explained that the federal government will be constructing a drainage at River Benue to curb the perennial flood in the state, adding that there will soon be dialogue with Cameroonian government to find a lasting solution to the yearly flood.