Flood: Atiku Writes FG Govt Over Situation in Bayelsa

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Presidential candidate and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has written to President Muhammadu Buhari led-administration over the flood situation in Bayelsa State and other part of the country.

Atiku, who was in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital on Tuesday to sympathize with citizens of the state that were affected by the flood disaster, said the scenes of the events are horrendous.

He said “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,” the presidential hopeful said.

Atiku in a lengthy comment about the event, appealled to President Buhari’s government to immediately launch an independent Flood Disaster Relief Fund that will provide succour to the victims of the floods.

According to him, the initiative 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 is bound to arise from the loss of hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmlands,” Atiku said.

He added: “There is no doubt that a large number of the victims are farmers. I also wish to make a plea for the establishment of a temporary fund for farmers to ameliorate their losses and give them capital for next year’s planting season.

“Part of the plans to lessen the burden on Nigerians is for the federal government to consider increased releases of grains from our Strategic Food Reserves and review our import policies to allow for the interim importation of food to make up for shortfalls in food production. And to forestall the recurrences of such devastating levels of flooding, the government must build the critical infrastructure required to contain excess water along the banks of the Rivers Niger and Benue.”

The PDP presidential candidate further expressed worries that the home-wrecking floods have altogether across the country claimed over 600 lives with more than 2 million people displaced.

He said: “People who are lucky to survive these floods have lost their belongings and need every ounce of help that they can get from the 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 give in showing empathy with them.”

Contributing his quota as a relief for the affected persons, Atiku said: “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 the help of the victims.”