FOLLOWING THE creation of the Chereponi District, out of the then Saboba-Chereponi District, the numerical strength of the staff at the Saboba District office of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), had been affected. In an interview with The Chronicle in Saboba, the District Coordinator of NADMO, Joshua Karmo, disclosed that out of the initial 20 zonal coordinators, one had vacated post, while another had also taken up appointment with a hospital. According to him, three of the district staff had also been posted to Chereponi, leaving only one in Saboba, together with him as District Coordinator. Mr. Karmo said considering the hectic nature of work, coupled with the looming flood disaster, there was the need to employ more staff. It would be recalled that during last year’s floods, the then Saboba-Chereponi District was identified as one of the hardest hit in the Northern Region, with hectares of farmlands, including yam, maize, millet, beans, rice, soya beans, groundnuts among others, destroyed. When this reporter monitored communities along the banks of River Oti, such as Kiteek, Buagbeln, Kimoateek, Sobiiba, Kokolnzoli, Kpalba, Samboli, Nakpando and Moabgar, it was clear that farmlands with all kinds of early crops, including yam and maize had been flooded. Mr. Karmo was worried that the situation could escalate during September, when the region would be experiencing heavy rains. As part of NADMO’s contingency pans, the Coordinator said zonal coordinators were currently embarking on assessment visits to the affected areas, to ascertain the devastating effects of the floods at firsthand. Residents of flood-prone areas have been sensitised on the need to stop farming in such areas. They have also been advised to move to higher grounds, to avert possible loss of human lives, livestock and properties. Mr. Karmo condemned the attitude of residents, who win sand within their surroundings, saying, “nature cannot be predicted, so human activities should be put in order, to avoid natural disasters. We must change our attitude,” he stressed. He was categorical that his outfit had nothing in stock, at present, to cater for any disaster. Reacting to criticisms by some residents in the area, that NADMO did not give them any aid after their names were taken in the wake of last year’s floods, Mr. Karmo explained that some political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), went round during that period and took some names, assuring the victims of their assistance, but later directed them to NADMO. He said since NADMO had also conducted its assessment and registered the affected people, there was no way it could have served those who were not captured in its records. The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Saboba, Mr. David Nyame, expressed grave concern about the extent of damage the floods had caused to the roads in the district. Already, one of the affected roads linking the district to Yendi, and other parts of the country, was the Saboba-Yendi road, through Demon. Some portions of this road, like the Kpalba Bridge, the area between Kontuli and Kokolnzoli and Galimata, were flooded, cutting off residents of villages like Chagbaan, N-nalog and Samoli, from Saboba and Yendi. The other road, Saboba-Yendi, through Wapuli, according to the DCE, needed urgent attention from the central government and NGOs, before the district is cut off from the rest of the country. Mr. Nyame said a contractor working on a bridge on the Saboba-Chereponi road, had abandoned work, rendering the road inaccessible. He said, when contacted, the contractor contended that he had finished with the concrete work, and was now waiting for metal to arrive for him to start with the main bridge. The DCE has therefore charged the contractor to expedite action on the work, before the people are completely cut off from the rest of district. Source: Chronicle