Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Hon. Yekini Nabena, has urged the Federal Government, donor agencies and private individuals to extend same priority attention to the Niger Delta as it gave to Borno State in the wake of recent flood disaster in the state.
According to him, the region urgently requires such attention due to ongoing devastating effects of flooding which has destroyed lives and livelihoods.
In a statement issued Tuesday in Abuja, Nabena specifically appealed to the new Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, and agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, the National Commission for Refugees, among others to not close their eyes against the ongoing disaster in the Niger Delta region.
He said farmers in Bayelsa and Delta States are currently counting their losses as floods have washed away their Cassava farms.
The Bayelsa born APC chieftain said governments at all levels should not forget that all the waters causing disasters in the North and other regions choose to settle in the Niger Delta region, hence the need for more attention.
The statement 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 the recent times, several lives have been lost, property destroyed and large farmlands are totally washed away, rendering several people and communities homeless, jobless and all their sources of livelihoods destroyed.
“Although there are agencies of government in this region just like we have in the North East, but 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.”