The European Mission has visited Kogi state with the aim of giving a technical advice on how to better manage floods.
While addressing the EU delegation, the special adviser on emergency management to the state governor, Air Vice Marshal Gabriel Abdul (Rtd) described the 2012 floods as a colossal loss as 13 markets, 831 small scale business and many crops stored for off season sales were washed away and destroyed.
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The European mission team who came in company of National Emergency Management Agency in Abuja (NEMA) accessed the level of damage by the flood and proffered technical advice towards future occurrence.
The delegation which was received at Koto Karfe by a Kogi state government delegation also visited Ozahi community but had a hard time assessing the neighbourhood as the only access road had been washed away by flood.
The community dwellers were still living in the shelter box provided by the state government, while the only toilet in the community was built by the Nigeria Red Cross.
The team also visited tony farm, where the manager of the farm took them round some part of the farm to see some of the damages caused by the flood.
While presenting his papers in an interactive session, Mr Abdul appealed for assistance from the EU to alleviate the suffering faced by the state. He said that damage had been done to 400,000 hectares of farmland, 24,082 houses in 477 communities in the state.
In his remarks, Dr Sierio Giovaniu stated that the EU will assist the state in areas of flood information management, especially as its relates to forecast and alerts procedures as well as early warning systems.
He commiserated with the state for recording the worst impact of flood last year and assured of technical and other assistance that would help mitigate impact of future flood.
The team is expected to visit the confluence beach Lokoja, Lokoja greater water works, Idah and Ibaji before the end of their visit.