Percy Onyeka
The Niger Delta Development Commission has distributed palliatives to flood-prone communities across the eight local government areas of Bayelsa State.
The commission explained that the gesture was part of its efforts to mitigate the effects of flooding on the people of the state, according to a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Thursday by the NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Pius Ughakpoteni.
The Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, while speaking during the handover of the various palliatives in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, said the distribution of the relief materials was the interventionist agency’s response to the challenges confronting the people and a way of cushioning the effects of the perennial flooding in many communities across the state.
Ogbuku, who was represented by the NDDC Director, Procurement, Dr. Week Doodei, and the Director of the Bayelsa State Office of the Commission, Godknows Alamieyeseigha, said the palliatives were handed over to the representatives of the various communities to help them tackle their problems.
He reaffirmed the NDDC’s commitment to ameliorating the challenges facing the people of the Niger Delta region, saying, “We share in the pains of the victims of the flooding in Bayelsa State. We realise that they have lost a lot which cannot be replaced.
“We assure you that the NDDC has very good programmes for the people of the Niger Delta region and as many people as possible will benefit from the distribution of the palliatives.”
He urged community representatives in the flood-hit areas to judiciously distribute the materials, which included food and household items, farm inputs, and livelihood items such as canoes, fishing nets, and hooks, among others, to ensure that flood victims had something to fall back on after their losses.
He added, “The NDDC is not only about building roads and physical infrastructure. We also intervene in social services.
“We will monitor the distribution of these palliatives to ensure that they get to the affected areas. This intervention will take place in all the NDDC mandate states because the Commission was set up to address situations such as this.”
The NDDC boss appealed to the benefiting community leaders to ensure that the items got to the vulnerable people in their areas, warning that hoarding and diversion of the items would not be tolerated.
After inspecting the relief materials loaded on many trucks, the representatives of the NDDC boss directed the community leaders to ensure that the various items were taken to the different local government areas and communities where they would be distributed.
