Anambra: Osinbajo visits communities to sympathise with flood victims

By Nmerichukwu Igweamaka

The Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday visited some flood-ravaged areas of Anambra State to sympathise with the affected residents.

He assured them that the Federal Government would intervene by supplying them with food and other relief materials.

At Umueze Anam, in the Anambra West Local Government Area, the Vice-President became emotional at the sight of families evacuating their properties from their flooded homes.

He said, “I flew over those disaster areas and I witnessed the rise especially in Onitsha, Ogbaru, Awka North, Coscharis farm and other places.

“We have directed the National Emergency Management Agency to continue to deploy relief materials to the IDP Camps and some homes, where residents have refused to leave.”

While commending Governor Willie Obiano for his prompt response to the situation, Osinbajo said he would work with the Anambra State Government to ensure a proper management of the situation.

Speaking, Obiano said he had earlier visited those areas to ascertain the level of damage.

He said the flood submerged homes and farms, noting that the residents were predominantly farmers.

The traditional ruler of Aguleri, Igwe Christopher Idigo, on his part, called on the Federal Government to work with hydrologists to provide lasting solutions to the flood problems across the country by creating dams that would absorb water from River Benue and River Niger.

One of the victims, Mr Friday Ekwuoba, a farmer, described the damage caused by the flood as devastating, saying it had affected the residents’ means of livelihood. Ekwuoba, who refused to leave his home, pleaded with the Federal Government to assist them to come out from the storm.

The Anambra State Emergency Management Agency said the flood destroyed over 200 hectares of rice farm at Omor in the Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra.

The Executive Director of the agency, Mr Cyprian Agupugo, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Omor.

Agupugo said the major river in the area, Okpoto River, overflowed its banks, destroying the Ojagbo rice farm worth millions of naira.

The Vice-President was accompanied on the tour by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige; Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa; the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mr Mustapha Maihaja, and others. (Punch)