By Nneka Nwogwugwu and Fatima Saka
Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has warned the Federal Government of an impending food crisis in the country even as it urged the central government to tackle food insecurity occasioned by the devastating effects the 2022 flooding that ravaged Bayelsa and other states.
The governor made this statement on Wednesday at the Government House, Yenagoa, through his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, while welcoming the Technical Working Group, SouthSouth, subcommittee under the Federal Government’s Committee on Prevention of Flooding.
He called on the Federal Government to distribute the tonnes of rice and other food items impounded by the Nigerian Customs Service as part of its short-term post-flood management measures in states badly affected by the flood.
“The last flood itself was a disaster, but with due respect to the Federal Government, its management of the flood portended doom for the country.
“We are supposed to do residual farming, but because of the flood, we have not been able to do that. We are going to have food insecurity in the country. And we all know that food insecurity is more dangerous than conventional insecurity.
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“There are lots of grains that have been seized by the Customs Service, which have been declared nobody’s property. What stops the Federal Government from distributing those grains to the states badly affected by the flood,” he said.
Pointing out that Bayelsa’s location at the lowest base of the river basin makes it most flood-prone; Diri stressed the need to consider the peculiarities of the state for any effort at flood prevention to be effective and successful.
He said the ecological problems of flooding and erosion, which bedevilled communities across the state, were inseparable.
He assured the team of his administration’s preparedness to work with the Federal Government on measures to tackle the challenges posed by the yearly flood.
He said: “First of all, I want to commend you for putting these issues in the right perspective. The two rivers (Niger and Benue) empty their waters through the river basin, which is Bayelsa, not the ocean.
“Bayelsa is one of the most impacted states. During the last flood, the waters rose by about 4.6 meters high.
The Director General of the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NHSA), Mr. Clement Nze, who leads the Technical Working Group, South South, disclosed they were in Bayelsa to look at locations badly affected by the flood and the measures taken by the state government to control flooding.
“Hopefully that the current short, mid and long-term plans of the Federal Government on flooding aimed at tackling the problem holistically,” he added.
