Flood: “Victims Need Food Not Soap” – Bayelsa State Government Tells NEMA

As flood continues to take over lands in different parts of Nigeria, the Government of Bayelsa State recently reacted to the relief materials donated by the Federal Government to people who have been displaced by the flood and are currently in an IDP camp.

After the relief materials were donated to the flood victims by the Federal Ministry of Human Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Governor of Bayelsa State disclosed that foodstuffs were not in the relief material donated as the Federal Government claimed but only items like clothes, soaps, mosquito nets, and other items.

In a statement made by Walamam Igrubia, the chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), it was revealed the Federal Government donated 589 cartons of bathing soaps, 15 bags of mosquito net, 41 bales of Guinea Brocade, 2 bags of children’s clothes, 5 bags of men’s clothes, and 5 bags of women’s clothes.

According to Igrubia, “We have waited this long and now, NEMA brought in bathing soaps, malaria-treated nets, clothing materials and wears, but this is an emergency situation. The paramount thing to us now is food. It is only when a man has eaten, he can think of what to wear. This is so because of our difficult situation of road inaccessibility from both Warri and Port Harcourt ends.

How can a disaster management agency think soap is more important than food in this terrible situation? NEMA should supply food, not non-food items as relief materials,” he said.