While the country and the entire world are worrying about the
coronavirus pandemic, property worth millions of naira were destroyed,
Monday, when some parts of Plateau State recorded their first rainfall
of the year.
The rainstorm, which started around noon that fateful day was
accompanied by a heavy windstorm that blew off rooftops of over fifty
houses and rendered many families homeless.
The unfortunate incident, which occurred in Jibam District and
environs of Pankshin LGA headquarters of Plateau Central Senatorial Zone
of the state, has thrown the inhabitants into confusion and panic as
most of the affected persons are stranded.
Narrating the incident to Newsmen in Jos, a resident of Jibam
village, Samnaan Pebhilip, lamented that the storm wrecked unimaginable
havoc on the community.
According to Pebhilip, who operates a block industry in the village,
said: “most of us have lost property worth millions of Naira and the
general mood in the community is one of despair and confusion because as
the wet season sets in, our seedlings have been completely destroyed in
the rainstorm.”
However, when Newsmen contacted the Plateau State Emergency
Management Agency, SEMA, on what the agency is doing to ameliorate the
sufferings of the affected persons, a Senior official of the agency who
would not want her name in print said: “We are yet to receive an
official report to that effect.”
She added that when the agency receives official communication
regarding the incident, it “will send a team of professionals to go and
assess the situation” with the view to providing palliative to those
affected.
On how soon the “palliative” from the government be made available to
the affected persons, the official lamented that the measures may take a
while because, according to her, the “agency has been operating without
a head (Executive Secretary) since the tenure of the former Executive
Secretary elapsed more than two years ago.”
