A social activist organization called Social Action has revealed that the Rivers State government led by Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has abandoned its flood victims.
The group made this revelation while addressing journalists after being at the affected communities in Ahoada West Local Government Area. Celestine Okpobari of Social Action, who has been visiting Engenni communities in Rivers State disclosed that “People in communities such as Jonkrama, Akioniso, Akinima in Ahoada West Local Government Area; Omoku, Ndoni, Egi etc in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area and other local councils in the state have thus been largely abandoned.
Stressing that the victims have been making desperate efforts of rescuing themselves and possibly few belongings from the flood, adding that many of these flood victims are facing threats of hunger and starvation, as well as risk of disease outbreak.
Pinpointing that the Rivers State government has so far not made any reasonable response even after a week of the outbreak of the flood to the plight of the flood ravaged communities and local councils. Besides merely making verbal statements on the flood situation, concrete aids such as food mosquito tents, medical care etc have not been provided to the victims of the flood disaster in the state.
According to Meridin Egbo who has been in Bayelsa reports that although the state government is making some efforts of responding to the situation unlike Rivers State government against its flood victims, noting that while the Bayelsa State governor goes around visiting the affected areas, his Rivers State counterpart has failed to visit his subjects even as they needed his moral and financial supports in moment like this.
The group recalled that in August 2012, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency NIMET issued a whether alert on the possibility of increase rainfall that could lead to flood in certain states in the country, accusing the federal, state and local governments of doing nothing to prepare the country for emergency. As forecast while it took the federal government well over a week, after communities had been inundated to lamely respond to the disaster, many of the governments of the affected states and local councils such as Rivers State and Bayelsa are yet to come up with any tangible or coherent response to the flood disaster.
Social Action therefore urges all intervention Agencies such as National and State emergency management bodies to attend to the situation and the needs of the flood victims by evacuating, as well as providing them with relief materials, stressing that it was Social Action that first provided some food items, drugs and bags of pure water, pleading for other organizations and well meaning individuals to do the same as thousands of people are trapped between life and death without food and safe drinking water.
The group also calls on the federal government to deploy members of the armed forces to participate in emergency evacuation in communities affected by flooding. According to Social Action the armed forces have the facilities, such as vehicles that can be used to rescue thousands that are trapped.
Akpobari, who said he had personal experience with the victims, stressed that smaller vehicles could not be used in East West Road because of the flood.
Akpobari said the victims are facing the worst situation where faces and corpses from cemetery are mixed with the same water that they drink as there is no other means for them to survive.
He called on all to intervene to save the victims as it is worst than war situation. ###
Allanso Jonathan Allanso
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