Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has visited the victims of flood disaster in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, where he also announced a donation of N50m to them.
Speaking in Yenagoa on Tuesday, Atiku described the food disaster horrendous and called on governments at all levels to immediately activate measures to forestall the food shortages and further increment in the already high cost of food that are bound to arise from the loss of hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmlands.
“The scenes are horrendous and it speaks to the seriousness that we must accord to climate change.
“What I witnessed in Bayelsa is as disheartening as reports from other places; it is a story of human trauma under the spell of nature’s fury. Public infrastructure like roads and power lines have been swept away in a flash, and facilities like hospitals and schools are destroyed and remain unavailable.
“Altogether across the country, it is reported that more than 600 lives have been lost, with more than 2 million people displaced.
“People who are lucky to survive these floods have lost their belongings, and need every ounce of help that they can get from government, non-governmental charity institutions and private donors.
“I commiserate with the victims who have lost their lives and pray that the Almighty gives us the strength to overcome.
“These incidents are unfortunate. Those who happen to become victims of it did not envisage such destruction. Nothing is too big or too small to show empathy with them.
“On behalf of my delegation, I wish to make a donation of Fifty Million Naira to the victims in Bayelsa State.
“While we continue to advocate for charity in help of the victims, I want to reiterate my earlier call for the federal government to immediately launch an independent Flood Disaster Relief Fund that will provide succour to the victims of the floods.
“It is a national emergency relief fund, similar in scope to what was initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to that end, I wish to call on my friends and associates in the corporate world and in private capacities to join in this cause.
“I also wish to call on governments at all levels to immediately activate measures to forestall the food shortages and further increment in the already high cost of food that are bound to arise from the loss of hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmlands,” Atiku said.
He added that if given the opportunity, “I will retool our disaster awareness apparatus, such as the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NHSA), to better forecast disasters and give the warning signals required to activate our national emergency response protocols.”
