NEMA to ‘forcibly evacuate’ thousands in Zamfara

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Thursday expressed its readiness to forcibly evacuate over 2,000 household in Gangare, Zamfara, to avoid casualty in case of flood.

Thickman Tanimu, NEMA’s coordinator in-charge of Sokoto operations office, made the disclosure in Gusau, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

He explained that the household would be evacuated from Gangare area near river Gusau, in the state capital.

Tanimu said that the agency had organised training for stakeholders in disaster management on the importance of waste management and flood mitigation.

“Based on the report we received from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) the state government had over ten years ago directed the people to vacate the area.

The state government had also paid their compensation but they refused to leave.

“We also heard that even last month as a result of recent flood disaster across the country, the state government had directed them to evacuate the area.

“As disaster managers it is part of our responsibilities to ensure proactive measures to avoid disaster and to reduce its impact,’’ he said.

“So evacuating them is part of proactive measures because we are trying to save lives and property from been affected.

“We are going to collaborate with the state Emergency Management Agency even if it means forcing them to leave the area,” he said.

He told NAN that relevant stakeholders and authorities in the state had been trained in the state.