The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Okon Umana, has said that there will be a comprehensive intervention to ameliorate the sufferings of flood victims across the region.
Umana stated this during a working tour of one of the areas submerged by the flood at Ihuike Community in Ahoada East Local Government Area, Rivers State.
While expressing shock at the level of devastation, he pledged that the Federal Government through the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC will commence remedial action on the road.
The Minister who was accompanied by the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Engr. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, and other Directors of the Commission, described the flood disaster as a national emergency.
According to him, “I have directed the NDDC to engage SETRACO, the construction company working on the road, to quickly assess the damages at the Ahoada section of the East West Road, so that they can commence remedial repairs to restore the link between Rivers and Bayelsa States.”
Umana continued that his Ministry was collaborating with the NDDC, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and other Federal Government parastatals and state governments to offer medical and infrastructural assistance to impacted communities in the affected states.
He expressed sympathy for the thousands of persons displaced by the flood, and the families of those who have lost their loved-ones, stating that urgent measures were being taken by the various organs of government to assist communities in the Niger Delta region by providing relief assistance to displaced persons, as well as rebuild damaged infrastructures across the region.
The Minister pleaded with the people across the region to assist one another to overcome these challenges, adding that he and his staff are working round the clock with other government agencies to provide relief materials to all affected persons across the region.
Also speaking, the NDDC Chief Executive Officer, Audu-Ohwavborua said, “NDDC shall within the coming days, engage and mobilize SETRACO Construction Company to the failed and unmotorable sections of the East West Road linking Rivers state and neighbouring states.
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“The NDDC as an interventionist agency will complement the efforts of both the Federal and State Governments by providing relief materials to those affected by this unfortunate disaster and boats will be provided soon to ease the stress commuters face on a daily basis.”
