*Don’t abandon the Niger Delta, the elder statesman advises Buhari
Elder statesman, Chief (Dr.) E. K. Clark has advised the federal government to urgently come to the assistance of flood victims across the country, particularly in the Niger Delta region.
In a statement he personally signed Sunday, Dr. Clark he stated that after receiving information on the devastation of the flood, he was pained, concluding that the federal government’s intervention is needed most at the moment.
In commiserations with the people whose homes and communities are being ravaged by the devastating floods and those who lost their loved ones, properties, he urged Nigerians to equally donate relief items to these victims.
“Unfortunately, the Federal Government seem to be non-chalant over the plight of the citizens in the Niger Delta.
“For instance, in Bayelsa State, there is a palpable case of humanitarian crisis. Most communities of the state, including majority parts of Yenagoa, the state capital, are under water.
“The people of the state, who do not have where to go to, have resorted to some crude accommodation of pinning sticks inside the water, with a platform which they use as bed, made up of cellophane bags.
“There is starvation in the land, no water for the people to drink, the state is cut off from all sources that supply food to her, even electricity supply, has been cut off.
“The people now live in their homes with reptiles and other animals, whether aquatic, terrestrial or amphibian, which now drag spaces with humans in their homes, because these animals have also been displaced from their natural habitation because of the flood. It is a scary situation, as this exposes the people to danger.
“The Federal Government has not done anything to reduce the plight and suffering of the people.
“The State Governor, Sen. Douye Diri, was on the news on Saturday, 15th October, 2022, visiting some of the affected communities.
“In his speech, while addressing the victims, the governor stated that the federal government has not sent a kobo, nor any relief materials to the State.
“The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwon Nyesom Wike, also made similar statement a few days ago, when he made some donation to the flood victims in Rivers State.
“The country has Ministries and agencies that are supposed to act in such cases, and act fast, because these are emergencies.
“The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, whose mandate is to ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness and response has not been to the Niger Delta; has not even sent any relief materials to them.
“But the Ministry on Saturday, donated food items to vulnerable and displaced persons as a result of banditry in Sokoto State.
“While this is quite commendable, the same gesture should, please, urgently and speedily be extended to the States of the Niger Delta, and other places, which are being ravaged by flood.
“In this case, it is not only food stuff that is needed, but water, medical and other essentials are urgently needed.
“Because the Ministry’s mandate also includes implementation of fair, focused, social inclusion and protection programmes in Nigeria.
“In addition, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), established to handle disaster management, has not also visited the flood victims in the States of the Niger Delta.
“Commendably, the Director General of NEMA on Wednesday, 12th October, 2022, speaking at an event to mark 2022 International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction, stated that Mr. President has approved 12,000 metric tons of grains for victims of flood across the country.
“Have these materials been distributed, if so, where have they been distributed to? Who received them?
“Or are the Governors of the Niger Delta States raising false alarm? Because, it is money gotten from the region, that is used to purchase these relief materials”.
Chief Clark expressed the hope that “tomorrow, the Ministry and NEMA will not say they spent billions of naira in providing relief materials for flood victims, which nobody saw or received”.
He said he expected that 10 years after the last disaster flood that ravaged the country in 2012, a responsible government would by now, have taken steps to alleviate the sufferings, by building the dam to retain water from Lagdo Dam in Benue State, instead of blaming the Cameroonian government for releasing water from its dam and allowing their dam to collapse.
“This attitude of not caring, reminds me of what happened some time ago. Billions of naira was voted to dredge the River Niger, during the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) days, but today, there is no sign of dredging in Bayelsa and Delta States,” he said.
He also lamented the failure to properly dredge the River Niger and its tributaries after impact assessment of the areas had been done.
“In fact, a dredging of the Warri River to Escravos was carried out, on the Escravos side, has also stopped. As a result of not carrying out this project, presently, ships can no longer come to Warri.
“We are told that there is a pipeline on the bed of the sea, that hinders the dredging operation. For several years, there has been on-going talks between the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which have not yielded any results.
“Meanwhile, ships cannot berth at Warri Sea Port.
“Both the immediate-past government of the federation and the present one should be held responsible for the attitude they took on this matter.
“I challenge Muhammadu Buhari’s government to name any development it has carried out in the Niger Delta region, with exception of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.
“Today, the construction of the East-West Road, which began over ten years ago, to the embarrassment and shame of all of us, has not been completed. The road is being threatened.
“People cannot pass through a section of it easily, either to go to Port-Harcourt or return, from Bayelsa State, due to the ravaging flood,” he said.
