The National Emergency Management Agency has commenced the distribution of relief materials to flood victims in Kwara.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Kayode Alabi, inaugurated the distribution of the relief materials on Sunday.
The Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed, said the Federal Government approved the intervention for people affected by the 2022 flood disasters and those classified as the most vulnerable persons across the country.
Ahmed who was represented by the Head of Monitoring and Evaluation of the agency, Mr. Ephraim Tony, recalled how the 2022 flood disaster devastated many communities across the country.
He noted that in Kwara, most of the people in the communities were displaced, while their farmlands and crops were completely washed away by the flood.
“Following the flood, search and rescue operations were successfully conducted in several locations where trapped persons were rescued and given the necessary care.
“Immediately after the flood incident, damage and loss assessments were conducted and relief items approved by the federal government were delivered across the states to complement the initial intervention by the state government.
“Furthermore, based on assessments which were jointly conducted by the agencies, the Federal Government approved this special intervention to assist vulnerable persons across the country and those affected by the flood to support their quick return to normalcy,” he said.
Ahmed said the intervention, among other things, was expected to drive the sustainable socio-economic resilience of the targeted most vulnerable individuals.
He noted NEMA staff have been deployed to conduct the verification of the beneficiaries in collaboration with personnel from SEMAs, State Agricultural Development Project and other relevant stakeholders.
The NEMA DG revealed that a total of 660,884 households were verified and targeted to benefit from the special intervention across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the items distributed to them to improve their socio-economic conditions.
The Kwara State governor commended the effort of the FG through NEMA for “this timely intervention” and urged the beneficiaries to ensure proper utilisation of the items.
AbdulRazaq reiterated the commitment of the administration towards supporting all programmes that would be directed towards alleviating the socio-economic hardship of those in the state.
NAN reports that the Items distributed to the beneficiaries included agricultural inputs, food items, sewing machines, grinding machines, mosquito nets and mattresses, among others.
