Rivers Government distributes relief materials to flood victims in Oyigbo, Eleme.

By Onyekachi Nwosu

The Rivers State Government has distributed relief materials to residents affected by flooding in Oyigbo and Eleme Local Government Areas of the state.

The distribution is the first intervention by the Rivers State Flood Management and Prevention Committee since the beginning of the rainy season this year.

The exercise, carried out in the two local government areas, was aimed at providing immediate assistance to residents who have been displaced or whose homes and livelihoods have been affected by the floods.

Presenting the items to flood victims in Oyigbo, the Deputy Governor and Chairperson of the State Flood Management and Prevention Committee, Professor Ngozi Odu, said the intervention followed reports on the severity of the flooding in the area.

Professor Odu said the relief materials were meant for all residents affected by the disaster, irrespective of their political affiliation.

She said the state government was concerned about the impact of the floods on communities and would continue to monitor the situation as the rainy season progresses.

The Deputy Governor also visited the Internally Displaced Persons camp located within the Oyigbo Local Government Secretariat, where some flood victims have been taking shelter.

She assured the displaced residents that the state government would return to the affected communities after the floodwaters recede to provide additional support and begin recovery efforts.

The Chairman of Oyigbo Local Government Area, Okechukwu Akara, appealed to both the state and federal governments to provide further assistance to residents affected by the flooding.

Akara said some of the affected residents had to be relocated to a new IDP camp after the facility used as a camp in 2023 was itself taken over by floodwaters.

He said the situation had increased the hardship faced by residents who had been forced to leave their homes because of the rising water.

Intervention reaches Eleme

In Eleme Local Government Area, the relief materials were distributed at Aleto Secondary School.

The State Head of Service, Dr Inyingi Brown, represented the Deputy Governor at the exercise.

Dr Brown said the intervention was intended to reduce the hardship faced by residents whose homes and livelihoods had been affected by the floods.

She said officials from the Rivers State Ministry of Environment were also at the affected areas to investigate the circumstances surrounding the flooding and identify measures that could help prevent or reduce similar incidents in the future.

Receiving the materials on behalf of the Eleme Local Government Council, the Vice Chairperson, Virtue Joseph-Ekei, assured the government that the items would be distributed to the residents genuinely affected by the disaster.

Victims raise concerns over distribution

Some of the flood victims who spoke with our correspondent expressed appreciation to the Rivers State Government for providing the relief materials.

However, some of them raised concerns about the distribution process, saying there was a possibility that people who were not directly affected by the flooding could benefit from the intervention.

The victims alleged that some people present at the distribution venue were presenting themselves as flood victims even though, according to them, they had not been affected by the disaster.

They appealed to officials handling the exercise to ensure that the materials reach residents whose homes and livelihoods have actually been affected by the floods.

What was distributed

The relief package includes food and household items intended to provide immediate assistance to affected families.

Food items distributed include 25-kilogramme bags of rice, 10-kilogramme bags of beans, 25-kilogramme bags of garri, 25-kilogramme bags of salt, palm oil, groundnut oil and cartons of noodles.

The non-perishable items include mattresses, pillows, blankets, buckets and toiletries.

The intervention comes as several communities in Rivers State continue to deal with the effects of flooding during the rainy season, with residents in some affected areas seeking assistance for temporary shelter, food and other basic needs.

The State Flood Management and Prevention Committee is expected to continue monitoring flood-prone communities and coordinating further interventions as the rainy season progresses.