Bayelsa Gov’t Approves N450m For Flood Victims

Bayelsa Gov’t Approves N450m For Flood Victims

As a measure to assuage the suffering of persons displaced by flood in Bayelsa State, Governor Douye Diri has approved the sum of N450 million for the relocation of victims across the state to higher grounds and for the provision of relief materials.

The exercise, which commences immediately, will be carried out on local government basis.

It was gathered that the current flood situation in the state, which is said to be higher than the 2012 flood, if not well managed will create negative impacts on the people and property in the state.

Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment and Chairman of the Task Force on Flooding, Mr. Eselema Gbaranbiri, disclosed the funds at the end of the State Executive Council Meeting in Government House in Yenagoa on Wednesday, adding that affected persons in Yenagoa Local Government Area would be relocated to the Oxbow Lake area and the state heliport.

He also stated that swamp boogies had been moved to strategic areas in the state capital to open up blocked canals in areas mostly impacted.

He revealed that in its preliminary report to the governor, the task force identified Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa as the worst-hit local government areas.

According to him, the  government was touched by the plight of Bayelsans whose livelihood had been negatively impacted by the flood and that it would ensure affected persons get some form of relief.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mr. Ayibaina Duba, disclosed that from the committee’s findings, places like Nembe and Brass Local Government Areas that were not impacted in the 2012 flood were affected this time around.

He said the government was more concerned about the post-flood season, noting that after the 2020 flooding, the government carried out some pilot projects to control the perennial natural disaster, which he said yielded positive results.

Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Moses Teibowei, stressed that areas like Opolo and Okutukutu in the state capital that were usually submerged during previous years’ flooding were now safer areas due to the home-grown flood prevention technology deployed by the state government.

Teibowei said the government was ready to replicate same flood mitigation projects in areas like Down Yenagoa, Obele, Arietalin as well as Agudama-Epie, Akenfa, Akenpai and other areas of the state with high-impact flooding.

He stated that the flood had affected some roads, particularly the Bulou-Orua axis on the Sagbama-Ekeremor road, which had been cut off due to the pressure from the rampaging water.

He said his ministry had embarked on remedial works on the road and that immediately after the flood, a more lasting solution would be executed in communities around the Nun and Forcados rivers.