APC chieftain begs FG, donors to pay attention to Niger Delta

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Yekini Nabena, on Tuesday, appealed to the Federal Government and donor agencies to give urgent attention to the nine states in the Niger Delta region recently affected by flood disaster.

The former deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC made the plea in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.

The nine Niger Delta region states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.

His appeal comes barely two days after the Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, announced plans to flag off distribution of palliatives worth millions of naira to support displaced persons in the Niger Delta.

Momoh listed the items approved for distribution as rice, spaghetti, beans, sewing machines, grinding machines, motorcycles, and cooking stoves, among others.

But Nabena pleaded that the victims of the flood disaster be accorded the same humanitarian donations and reliefs enjoyed by Borno State residents when it was overwhelmed by flooding two months ago.

He said “It has become necessary to appeal to the Federal Government, its donors and individuals who have donated to the recent flood disasters in the North-East to do the same for the Niger Delta region.

“In recent times, several lives have been lost, property destroyed, and large farmlands are totally washed away, rendering several people and communities homeless, jobless, and their sources of livelihoods destroyed.

“Although there are agencies of government in this region just as we have in the North-East, the devastating effects of this disaster have far gone beyond the likes of Niger Delta Development Commission and others.

“I, hereby, call on the Federal Government, private individuals and donor agencies to urgently intervene to reduce to the minimum the negative effects of the recent flood disaster in our region.”

Continuing, Nabena specifically called to the new Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda and agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency and National Commission for Refugees, among others, not to close their eyes against the ongoing flood disaster.

According to him, farmers in Bayelsa and Delta States are currently counting their losses as flood washed away their Cassava farms.