Stranded commuters resort to canoes as flood submerges Kogi capital

Stranded commuters in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Monday morning resorted to using canoes to get to their destinations in the metropolis as floods submerged the city.

Eyewitnesses who recorded many residents manoeuvring their ways through the floods to be able to move around, say massive flooding on Sunday overran the Ajaokuta-Ganaja-Lokoja road axis which links the metropolis to the eastern part of the state.

“The flooding covered the portion of the road at Ganaja village such that only by canoes that the commuters could cross the flooding,” a resident said.

“The road is strategic to socio-economic activities, linking Kogi to the eastern part of the country which has been made inaccessible now to motorists and commuters by flooding,” he said.

The canoe operators are also said to have cashed in on the development, charging passengers between N50 and N100 to ferry them across the flooded road.

A canoe operator who justified the sharp hike, said it was because of the dangers and rigours involved.

Read also: Flood submerges 17 communities in Nasarawa

“We have to charge that high because of the cost of the rigour involved. As you can see, it’s not easy to ferry passengers across the flooded road,” he said.

The Kogi Commissioner for Environment, Victor Omofeye, has however, appealed for calm, assuring the people that the state government was aware of the development and was putting everything in place to address the situation.

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