Notwithstanding the scale of flood disaster that hit Bayelsa State recently including the home of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has ruled out special intervention for Bayelsa as it is not among the 10 most ravaged states in the country.
The Minister, Mrs Sadiya Umar Farouk, said by the ministry’s assessment, Bayelsa’s flooding was not as serious as 10 other states and rated Jigawa’s as most affected.
Persecondnews reports that Bayelsa Gov. Douye Diri, on Thursday disclosed that the recent flood which ravaged his state had cost the state government about N2 billion so far.
He spoke while featuring on the Arise TV Morning Show programme anchored by Dr Reuben Abati and Mr Oseni Rufai.
Diri had earlier accused the Federal Government of paying lip service to the flooding situation ravaging the state, especially in response to providing relief materials to cushion the effects.
He had declared a week holiday for civil servants to enable them salvage their belongings and relocate to flood-free areas.
“What we have spent so far, I have not asked for the books. It would be between the neighbourhood of N1.5 to N2bn or thereabouts. When I ask for the books, then I will get the total expenditure; because beyond the food and relief items.
“As I have pointed out, the medicals and pharmaceuticals are differently also attended to and our movement again to these communities and what we also give to them,” Diri said.
But Farouk, while featuring on the State House Weekly Ministerial Media Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday said Bayelsa flooding was not as serious as being claimed.
The minister said the Ministry had sent some relief materials to Bayelsa through the Nigerian Air Force.
On the allegations that there is no humaneness in her as the minister of humanitarian affairs, Farouk said it is not true that she is inhumane, adding “the flood disaster is a national issue and l am performing my duty to the best of my ability.
“Merely looking at me, you know that I am humane.”
Persecondnews also recalls that the Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), nonagenarian Chief Edwin Clark, had blasted the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs as being inhumane as due attention was not given to areas hit by floods in Bayelsa and other parts of the South.
He criticized the minister for rating Jigawa state as the most affected by the current floods as against the coastal state of Bayelsa.
“We have a humanitarian minister that is not humane, who was only active to carryout school feeding of school children who were confined to their homes during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“In such an urgent situation of ravaging flood, she has decided to maintain a disquieting quietness. Bodies like the National Emergency Agency (NEMA), were not able to take proactive measures.
“Where is the mother of the nation, the First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari? Her fellow women are in deep agony, seeing their children dying of starvation and treatable minor illnesses because there is no medication,” Clark said.
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