Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege has urged on the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, the National Emergency Management Agency, and the Delta State Emergency Management Agency, as well as other relevant agencies to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to affected flood victims in Delta State and other parts of the country.
Senator Omo-Agege, who is also the Delta State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in next year’s elections, also called on the relevant agencies to provide timely early warning for flood-prone areas with a view to forestalling loss of lives and property in such places.
Omo Agege commiserated with victims of flood disaster in various parts of the state and urged vulnerable communities to move to safer locations and cooperate with government officials providing support.
He said the devastation caused by the floods to food crops, farmlands, houses and property, resulting in some cases to loss of lives, was worrisome to all.
He urged the hundreds of victims whose houses, vehicles were submerged by the floods to persevere in these trying times, and prayed God to give them fortitude.
Two weeks ago, Breezy News reported heavy rains with devastating impact in some parts of Delta State. At last monthly congress of the Warri Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists appealed to the state government to urgently come to the aid of flood victims in Warri metropolis and environs in the wake of the heavy downpour that ravaged several communities in the state earlier that week.
The media practitioners also advised residents in flood prone areas to heed the earlier warnings on flood from relevant Federal Government agencies, particularly the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency and Nigeria Meteorological Agency.
Also, the Federal Government approved emergency management plans to mitigate the impact of the flood nationwide.
After an emergency meeting on flood situation with relevant stakeholders in Abuja last Tuesday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. Dr Nasir Sani-Gwarzo told reporters that said government had approved the National Emergency Flood Preparedness and Response Plans to mitigate and reduce the impact of the flood nationwide.
This is as the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) warned on Wednesday about more flooding in the North Central and South Eastern states.
NiMet Director General, Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu said that, although flooding as a result of rainfall might have reached its peak, flooding as a result of opening of dams and other water holding facilities would still affect states in the two geopolitical zones.
He said that experts responsible for controlling flood disaster had informed the committee that the scale of the 2022 flooding was similar to that of 2012.
