By Emeka Amaefula
NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION PREPARES EMERGENCY SHELTERS FOR FLOOD VICTIMS
There have been early preparations for the anticipated perennial flood incidents which ravage states of Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta as the development interventionist agency, Niger Delta Development commission NDDC in 2024 has set up 6 emergency shelter complexes to accommodate internally displaced persons-IDP . Two of such emergency’s shelters in each of the three states have already been constructed with Medical clinics, Hostels and recreation centres.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Samuel Ogbuku on Tuesday 17th of September, 2024 briefed journalists at his office at Port Harcourt informed the media practitioners that NDDC has done a lot to mitigate the impact of flooding in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states respectively. He said that in the Coastal areas of Niger Delta which include Ondo state use of Geo-Tubes system has been utilized in reducing the impact of flooding and erosion in those areas as it also helps in reclaiming land in the event of ocean surge and high rise of Ocean tidal levels. “We have prepared a long time ago before the flood hit Maiduguri. Let me on behalf of the good people of Niger delta extend the condolence to the people and government of Borno state, because we know that loss of lives has been lost. It’s not what we wish for anybody but we in the Niger Delta we’re here to send condolences to the families that have lost people because we know Maiduguri is a cosmopolitan city and some persons from Niger Delta may also be casualties. We know that the North East Development Commission will be alive to its responsibilities to also support the people of Maiduguri.
“For us in the Niger Delta preparation for the flood , we knew that the flood was going to come and that’s why in earnest when our people started suffering from the difficulty of passing the East-west road, the NDDC had to intervene immediately to ensure that we make that road passable. And today, the traffic we used to experience then is no more there. That’s has been proactive by NDDC,
“we are also watching it because we have also kept our contractors on standby to ensure that those sections of the road that are being worked on might face some challenges when the flood comes. Let it be that we have our people on site to also keep working so that our people won’t suffer so much. We are also working so that when the flood comes as usual we will prepare relief materials to also send to the various states as what NDDC has been doing before now to as cushion the effects of flooding as much as a natural disaster it’s not something that we can’t stop but we will only try to mitigate and in mitigating you know that NDDC has started building Flood and emergency shelters for this situation where we are building two in Bayelsa, two in Rivers, two in Delta . These are the ones we have started and we are going to do others too. These projects are located in areas where they suffer flooding challenges. These projects have schools in it, it has hostels to accommodate the people that are going to be there. It has Police Posts, it has schools, it has Cafeteria, it’s a mini community that we are building. So, the project is actually a huge project which the NDDC is building across these various areas. We are not sleeping and waiting for our people to suffer. These Flooding Emergency Shelters are going to be used not only as Flooding shelters but it can be used for hosting of events when there’s no flooding. So, it’s a multi-purpose complex that we’re building. So, it’s not a place we’re just building just for flood victims.
“We have six of this facility currently under construction in Otuokpoti and Odi in Bayelsa state, while the ones in Delta State are being built in Patani and Ozoro and another two in Rivers state.”
——–Emeka Amaefula——+234(0)8111813069———-
