Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed has distributed foodstuff and relief materials worth millions of naira to victims of flooding to cushion the hardest cause by the incident in Kwara State.
Hajiya Zainab Saidu, head, Minna Operations Office of the agency, in her statement on Wednesday said the handing over was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
She also disclosed that Buhari approved 12,000 metric tons of assorted grains to be distributed to vulnerable people across the country.
While handing over the relief materials to the Kwara State government in Ilorin, Ahmed noted that the occasion represented another great milestone in cementing collaboration between Kwara Government and NEMA.
The DG revealed that many Nigerian states including Kwara had been wreaked by flooding causing irredeemable economic losses.
The DG was represented at the occasion by the Deputy Director, ICT of the Agency, Alh. Sani Lokoja.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Mamman Jibril who received the items on behalf of the state government, appreciated the DG for unalloyed intervention in the state.
Jibril taxed the Federal Government through NEMA to proffer lasting solutions to recurring floodings in the country by dredging rivers to be able to accommodate more water.
He, therefore, admonished the government to also construct dams to absorb excess water.
Jibril called for planting of trees along rivers banks to prevent flooding and windstorms.
The SSG urged the government to encourage mechanized farming with adequate support for farmers in order to prevent famine occasioned which is caused by flooding.
Items handed over for vulnerable people in Kwara State included 2,100 bags of 50 kg maize, 1,800 bags of 50 kg sorhum; and 3,600 bags of 25 kg garri.
The food items are, 75 bags of 20 kg salt, 75 kegs of 20-litre vegetable oil, 150 cartons of seasoning cubes; and 75 cartons of satchet tomato.
Other non-food items are, 8,000 pieces of nylon mats, 1,000 pieces of mosquito nets, 600 cartons of soap, 2,500 pieces of guinea brocade, 1,000 pieces of children’s wear, 1,000 pieces of women’s wear; and 1,000 pieces of men’s wear.
