Kwara Govt Visits Shonga, Begins Probe Of Rice Plantation Flooding

A delegation from the state government of Kwara visited Shonga in the state’s Edu Local Government Area on Sunday to find out what is responsible for the unusual flooding that has buried rice farmland that has spanned tens of hectares of rice.

The delegation, led by Tada’s Deputy Chief of Staff Princess Bukola Babalola, also distributed millions of naira worth of relief supplies to the farmers in the affected area.

The delegation also visited Tada, the victims of Shonga Dr. Haliru Yahya Ndanusa, and the Emir of Shonga.

Saba Gideon, the head of the House of Assembly Committee on Agriculture, was one of the delegation’s other members. Commissioners for Agriculture, Water Resources,  Environment, Youth; Special Adviser on Special Duties; SSA Security to the Governor; Abdullahi Bello, the head of the Edu Local Government Area; Kwara State Emergency Management Agency Secretary a director of the Secretary of State’s Administration; and the Kwara State Social Investment Programme’s general manager.

The government would assist the farmers in reversing the damage done by the flooding on their farms, according to DCOS Babalola’s assurance to the victims.

We are present to witness the damage being done to Tada community’s rice farms, particularly. We have witnessed the incident, and we are sending the message to His Excellency Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to see what can be done to fix it. On the sidelines of the visit, she reportedly stated to reporters that she would use immediate and long-term solutions to prevent the loss of lives and farmland.

“Also, a lot of farmers are crying here that they need a lot of support. We have heard their complaints, and help is on the way. ”

Babalola thanked the community’s residents for their cooperation and understanding, stating that the government would support them in all ways, including finding the root causes of the flooding.

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Dr. Halidu Yahya Ndanusa, the governor of Shonga, expressed regret over the incident and warned that the state’s food security might be impacted by the flooding.

He urged the state government to conduct a thorough investigation to discover the source of the “unusual” flooding right now.

“From here up to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, Niger Republic, and Mali, there was no rain. The Sahel is dry. How is it possible that this area will flood? The source of this flood must be local,” he said.

“We have asked from Kainji Dam, and they said it wasn’t from them. Jebba Dam was unable to refute it, though. In fact, they said they would soon close it. We spent a lot of time attracting people to this location. We avert food insecurity by preventing this from occurring again next year.

“His Excellency has spoken to me, and he took it very seriously. I didn’t expect this delegation again, given his interventions already. He expressed his concern and the strength of his delegation to us.

It is crucial that we understand the nature of the issue. If it is true that Jebba Dam released water, what was the reason, and who authorised it? ”

Muhammad Abdulkadir, a Tada community leader, disclosed that several farmlands were submerged due to the flooding.

Our farmers are from a number of north-western states. We have farmers from Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, and Niger State, and they have lost millions of naira worth of rice farms to this flooding,” he said.

“We definitely need government’s assistance. When there was no flooding, we realised over 3m metric tonnes of rice here annually.

Source: Channels TV