By Fatima Saka and Obiabin Onukwugha
The Authority of the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory Administration through its Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has donated relief materials to victims of flood in Yangoji community, Kwali Area Council, Abuja.
The items distributed on Wednesday, included food and non-food items, such as rice, maize, spaghetti, macaroni, and cooking oil.
Others are mattresses, mosquito nets, plastic buckets, soap, cups, cooking stuff, pots, wrappers, and building materials – cement, zinc, nails, and ceilings.
While handing the items to the victims, the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, said that the gesture was to help the victims recover from the shocks.
Adesola added that the support would assist the victims in rebuilding their lives while finding a lasting solution to the recurring flood in the area.
He expressed President Bola Tinubu’s sympathy, adding that the relief materials were his way of saying, “I feel your pain and agony.”
He promised that the FCTA would work with relevant agencies to address some of the causes of the flood.
He commended the Chairman of Kwali Area Council, Mr. Danladi Chiya, for the support and urged him to establish a Local Emergency Management Committee in the area.
According to him, the measure will ensure a well-coordinated approach to emergency response in the area.
The Director-General of the agency, Dr. Abass Idriss, said during the event at the palace of the Village Head, that the gesture was to cushion the effects of the flood on the victims.
Idriss said that the flood, which occurred in the early hours of July 4, destroyed 70
houses, washed away several farmlands, properties, and affected more than 180 people.
He advised residents of the community, particularly those living on floodplains, to relocate to higher ground to avoid a
recurrence.
He also urged the residents to heed early warnings by relevant agencies on imminent flooding to prevent flooding. “People must learn to stop building houses on waterways and dumping refuse in drainages to prevent flood,” he said.
Also, the chairman of Kwali Area Council, Danladi Chiya, thanked FCTA and FEMA for the support, which he described as “very timely”, to ease the pains of the victims.
Also, the Village Head of the community, Mr. Dantani Chindawa, said that apart from flood, the community was equally faced with security challenges. Chindawa said that many of the more than 12,000 people of the community were forced to relocate to
other communities due to security challenges.
He urged the FCTA to deploy more security personnel to improve security in the community.
One of the victims, Mrs. Dinatu Daniel, a mother of three, said that their house was destroyed by the flood and washed away their belongings and other valuables.
She commended FEMA and the FCT
Administration for coming to their aid, saying, “it will go a long way in reducing their pains.”
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Ibrahim Yusufu, FCA, says the ministry has embarked on early warning
sensitization of Nigerians as a way of addressing flooding in different parts of the country.
Yusufu made this submission while fielding questions from journalists at Barako Community, in Gokana local government area of Rivers State.
The Permanent Secretary, who was in the community for the commissioning of a 500,000 Ltrs water project executed by the
Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), told newsmen that the issue of flooding cannot be addressed if people were not aware of the consequences of their actions.
He told journalists that the ministry was collaborating with the media in carrying out an effective campaign and early warnings about floods in the country.
He said: “The ministry has an early warning system so sensitization is one area. If
whatever you are doing and people don’t listen to what you are doing; for instance, plastic containers that we dispose wrongly lead to flood. If you go and build where a river is passing you are contributing to flood so it now depends on sensitization; people
listening to advice and then complying with the advice.”
On the water project, the Permanent Secretary, assured that the Federal Government was committed to carrying out recommendations of the UNEP Report on Ogoniland to its logical conclusion, and called for united efforts from all stakeholders.
Yusufu, who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees of HYPREP said: “Permit me to state that while efforts are being intensified to cover more milestones in the HYPREP implementation framework, it has become exigent to find lasting solutions to theft/vandalization of project items, and sponsored agitations which have over the years encumbered the procurement process and effective delivery of emergency and livelihood support projects.”
Earlier in his welcome address, Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, noted the need to end oil theft and illegal refining to make the Ogoni cleanup and remediation project successful.
He said the completion and commissioning of the Barako Water Scheme is a further
affirmation of the commitment of the Federal Government through HYPREP to the full implementation of the UNEP Report.
While commemorating with the World Mangrove Day celebrated 26th July of every year, Zabbey informed that HYPREP will commence the training of 90 youths and women in the mangrove nursery and restoration, to leverage livelihood opportunities in shoreline cleanup and mangrove restoration.
He, therefore, called for an end to re-pollution of the Ogoni environment, saying, “We will not fail to mention that the issue of re-pollution occasioned by oil theft and illegal oil refineries must be collectively tackled to guarantee the successful clean-up of Ogoniland.
Community leaders and all stakeholders must be deliberate in stemming the overarching impact of this menace on the environment, economy, and health.”
