By Ngwuoke Ngwuoke
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA ,has donated relief materials worth more than ₦80 million to victims of flood and other disasters in Enugu State to help cushion the effects of the disaster on the affected families.
The materials included bags of rice, bags of beans, bags of garri, kegs of vegetable oil, cartons of seasoning cubes, cartons of spaghetti, cartons of tomato paste and bags of iodized salt.
Non – food items included, sets of treated mosquito nets, blankets, nylon mats, guinea brocades , children’s wears, packs of diapers, packets of sanitary pad, cartons of toilet soap, cartons of disinfectant and cartons of Omo detergent.
The list further included cooking pots, cooking stoves, building materials, bags of cement, planks, 400 bundles of roofing sheets , nail, zinc nails, ceiling board, livelihood Items, grinding machines, water pumping machine and sewing machines.
A senior Management Staff of NEMA Zonal office in Enugu Amaka Chidi-Aroh, presented the items to the Enugu State Government on behalf of the Director-General of the Agency, Mustapha Ahmed Habib.
Chidi-Aroh explained that “the relief intervention by the Federal Government through NEMA is not a compensation, but rather a fulfilment of the Federal Government’s responsibility to support the welfare and well-being of Nigerian citizens wherever they live especially when the capacity of their state and local government authorities are exceeded .”
“Upon the escalation of the 2022 flood disaster, the NEMA South East Zonal Office carried out damage/need assessment in 6 major selected Local Government Areas namely: Enugu South, Enugu East, Nkanu East, Awgu, Udenu and Uzo Uwani to determine the level of the flood disaster, damage caused, needs of the affected communities and appropriate recommendations were made in line with the agency’s mandate to ensure that all affected communities were provided with necessary short, medium and long term support to enable them recover from the disaster”.
According to her, the items were expected to help the affected persons stand on their feet and return to normal life.
Chidi-Aroh used the opportunity to remind members of the public of the recent unpredictable weather conditions, saying, “let me use today’s occasion to remind us that recent unpredictable weather conditions associated with climatic variability in Nigeria have aggravated the occurrence of disasters.
“We must therefore constantly evacuate solid wastes that clog drainage systems in our cities and townships, avoid building on flood plains and move to higher grounds whenever there is an early warning on looming flood disaster.”
She added that, “disaster management requires a collective effort, hence the calls for concerted endeavours on Disaster Risk Management and enhance collaboration between emergency response providers at community, local, state and federal levels.”
She commended Enugu State Government for it’s partnership with the Agency and for setting up a Technical Committee on major hazards (erosion and windstorm) in the state for the purpose of ensuring effective disaster management.
The NEMA representative further appreciated the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Local Government Chairmen, the Ag. Executive Secretary, Enugu SEMA, Mrs Chinasa Mbah, her staff, all NEMA line ministries/stakeholders including security agencies and voluntary organizations for their active collaboration with NEMA.
Speaking shortly after receiving the items, the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Chidiebere Onyia, commended NEMA for its partnership with Enugu state government.
He said that the state government’s partnership with NEMA had always yielded positive results and will be a continuous collaboration.
Onyia disclosed that the data from NEMA had also assisted the state government in its planning adding that the support will help in rebuilding the victim’s economic base.
The SSG expressed confidence in the credibility of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) Enugu State, led by the Nkanu East local government chairman, Okechukwu Sydney Edeh, in ensuring that the items would be properly distributed to the affected persons.
Earlier, the Head, Welfare, Enugu state Emergency Management Agency, Chinaza Mbah, said that the items presented were for the 2022 flood victims. She disclosed that a lot of communities were affected, houses and farmlands destroyed and some lost their lives in the 2022 flood disaster.
Chinasa said that the items would complement the ones already provided by the state government and would be properly distributed to make sure they get to the affected victims. “SEMA will monitor the distribution”, she said.
In his remarks, the Chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, Okechukwu Sidney Edeh, said that they would go to the Local Government Areas, and set up committees for the distribution of the materials to the affected persons.
The committee, according to him, would be made up of stakeholders and priests who would go to the different communities and reach out to the affected persons.
