National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday handed over foods and other items to the Kwara State government under the federal government special intervention of assorted grains and approved relief materials for distribution to persons affected by 2022 flood and other natural and human induced disaster.

The director-general of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed announced in Ilorin, the state capital that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the release of 12,000 metric tons of assorted grains from the National Strategic Reserve Stock for distribution to states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“You will all agree with me that in the last couple of months some states of Nigeria including Kwara State have suffered widespread flood disaster. The unfortunate flood incidents have resulted in loss of lives, human displacement, loss of means of livelihood, socio-economic dislocation,” he stated.

Represented by the deputy director of ICT, Sani Lokoja, the DG said NEMA's operations office in Minna has continuously worked with the Kwara State Emergency Management Agency (KWASEMA) to conduct damage and loss assessments to guide relief intervention to persons in need of support in Kwara State.

“Part of the grains distributed to Kwara State which are expected to give succour to most vulnerable groups of persons include: 105 metric tons of maize (2,100 bags of 50kg); 88.7 metric tons of sorghum (1,800 bags of 50kg; 98.7 metric tons of Garri (3,600 bags of 25kg).

Ahmed said NEMA has also delivered additional relief material in form of food and non-food items to further support persons affected by the flood disaster in the state.

He urged the state governor, AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq to set up and strengthen the local emergency management committees (LEMCs) in all the local government areas to take disaster management to the grassroots in line with global best practices.

In his response, Governor AbdulRazaq who was represented by the secretary to the state government, Prof Mamman Saba Jubril called on the federal government to find lasting solutions to the perennial flooding affecting communities around Rivers Niger and Benue.

“Compensation by giving money, foods and other items in most of the affected communities is like scratching the problem from the surface. We want the federal government to come up with permanent solutions to the problems. We know it could be very costly but they deserve it. This is beyond the state government.

“Some of the solutions to this problem include dredging of rivers to contain more volume of water and avert overflowing; construction of dyke around the rivers; planting of trees along river banks; discouraging farming around riverbanks and dredging of Baro Port in Niger State,” he stated.

AbdulRazaq recalled that the government had earlier distributed relief materials to victims of flooding in Patigi, Edu, and Moro local government areas.