The National Emergency Management Agency has commenced distribution of relief items to 2025 flood victims in Abia.
NEMA, in collaboration with the State Emergency Management Agency, handed over the relief items to the representatives of the affected communities on Thursday in Umuahia.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the items distributed include cartons of spaghetti and macaroni.
In a speech, Head, NEMA Owerri Operations Office, Mr Nnamdi Igwe, said that the effort was part of the agency’s response to the flood disasters affecting various communities in the state.
Igwe, represented by the Search and Rescue Officer, NEMA, Mr Sunday Iweala, said that the intervention approved by the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation was to cushion the effect of the disaster.
“It is a little assistance from the Federal Government, and we believe that it will reach the affected people through SEMA.
“While we sympathise with you, we urge you to indulge in such practices that will reduce the cause of flood disasters in your various communities,” he said.
In a remark, the Executive Secretary of SEMA, Dr Sunday Jackson, disclosed that about 45 communities across the 17 local government areas of the state were affected by the flood disaster.
He said that the items were not enough to bring back all that was lost, but were meant to cushion the effect of the impact on both persons and communities affected.
Jackson expressed profound gratitude to the committee chairman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, for ensuring that Abia was among the benefiting states.
He equally appreciated NEMA for facilitating the process as well as Governor Alex Otti, for providing an enabling environment and ensuring that the people felt the positive impact of governance.
In a response, the Village Head, Isiala Ovum Autonomous Community in Obingwa LGA, Mr Godwin Nwakanma, thanked the government for its kind gesture.
He, however, urged government intervention, adding that the flood, which displaced members of the community, destroyed their buildings, farmlands and other property.
NAN
