Flooding: FG neglected Niger Delta, says Clark

myDelsu News Staff 2

248 3 minutes read

Chief Edwin, an elder statesman and former commissioner of federal information in the First Republic, has expressed concern for the plight of flood victims in the Niger Delta and urged the federal government to take immediate action in the face of impending disasters and humanitarian crises.

He questioned why the government’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, whose job it is to ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response, hasn’t sent any aid to the people of the Niger Delta but has provided food for those who have been displaced and made vulnerable due to banditry in Sokoto State.

With the exception of the Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State, the Ijaw chieftain also dared President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) to name any development his regime has carried out in the Niger Delta region.

On Sunday, journalists in Abuja acquired a statement from Clark entitled “The awful situations of flood victims — Need for Federal Government to act immediately, not to forsake the Niger Delta,” in which Clark emphasized the issues.

He predicts that the flood of 2022 will be even more devastating than the one in 2012.

He urged the relevant agencies at the federal level to move quickly and earnestly. We also need to make sure that the aid that is given gets to the individuals who need it. There needs to be quick action from the federal government. A major catastrophe is on the horizon.

Even in 2012, I remember it being so awful that I visited some of the flood-ravaged areas in Bayelsa and Delta States with some relief supplies to encourage the flood victims. The reason is because during times like this, any help given to the victims is greatly appreciated.

Because of being older and all the problems that comes with it, I regret having to admit that I cannot travel to offer my support personally or provide material aid at this time. The Federal Government’s seeming indifference to the condition of Niger Delta residents is regrettable.

For instance, a humanitarian crisis is clearly visible in Bayelsa State. Yenagoa, the capital city, and many of the surrounding settlements are all below sea level. The state’s residents, who are stuck with nowhere else to go, have resorted to making makeshift homes out of cellophane bags and sticks submerged in bodies of water.

People are going hungry, there’s no clean water, and the State has lost access to all of her food and power sources. Since the flood also uprooted the animal population, people have taken in reptiles and other animals, whether aquatic, terrestrial, or amphibian, to share their dwellings. It’s terrifying because it puts people in harm’s way. The Federal Government has done little to alleviate the people’s hardships.

Clark claims that Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri made the claim that the federal government has not delivered any money or relief supplies to the state during his visit to impacted villages on Saturday.

A few days ago, when he made a donation to the victims of the disaster in Rivers State, Governor Ezenwon Nyesom Wike issued a statement along the same lines. Because these are crises, the country has ministries and entities that are intended to act quickly,” he said.

While Clark acknowledged that helping Sokoto was a good first step, he urged that similar efforts be made to aid areas in the Niger Delta and elsewhere that have been hit by flooding.

He explained that the Ministry’s responsibility involves the implementation of fair, focused, social inclusion and protection programs in Nigeria, therefore the urgent need for food, water, and medical supplies was also mentioned. The Niger Delta flood victims have not even been visited by the National Emergency Management Agency, which was set up to deal with disaster management.

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