By Tony Obiechina Abuja

The Federal Government has paid the second tranche of the outstanding N35,000 wage award arrears to federal government workers.The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) disclosed this in a statement issued by Bawa Mokwa, Director of Press and Public Relations at the weekend.

The OAGF said the Federal Government had earlier paid one month out of the initial five months outstanding arrears, adding that with the payment of the second tranche, there remains three tranches to exhaust the wage award arrears. According to the OAGF contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the Federal Government has not reneged on payment of the wage award arrears; stressing that the Federal Government will continue to pay the wage award in instalments of N35,000 per month until the outstanding arrears is exhausted.

From Yagana Ali, Yola

The Adamawa State Government has commenced distribution of relief materials to 4,000 households affected by the recent flood in the state. The relief materials were donated by the State Government, Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, North East Development Commission (NEDC) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to cushion the impact of the disaster on vulnerable communities.

The distribution is taking place simultaneously at various centers, including the Digital Centre, Ahmadu Ribadu, Lamido Zubairu and Aliyu Mustapha College in Yola-South Local Government Area. The state Deputy Governor, Professor Kaletapwa Farauta, flagged off the distribution, cautioning beneficiaries against selling the assorted materials.Professor Farauta emphasized that the government would deploy monitoring teams to ensure that the relief materials are used for their intended purpose and not sold or seen in shops across the state. She encouraged beneficiaries to take advantage of the rainy season to plant crops and support their livelihoods.Earlier, the government, through the State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), stepped up its response to flood victims by distributing relief collection tickets to verified victims in affected areas, including Shagari, Yolde Pate, Modire, and surrounding communities.The tickets enable beneficiaries to access essential items, such as food, bedding, clothing, and other necessities.The relief materials being distributed include, Food items: bags of rice, maize, spaghetti, seasoning cubes, tomato paste, and vegetable oil Non-food items: plastic cups, plastic spoons, children’s wear, nylon mats, blankets, and mattresses.The Deputy Governor reiterated the government’s commitment to improving the plight of the people of Adamawa State, emphasizing that the relief efforts are designed to provide support and relief to those affected by the flood disaster. The distribution of relief materials is a significant step towards alleviating the suffering of flood victims and promoting recovery in the state.

From Ene Asuquo, Calabar

A heavy Rainfall in the Northern part of Cross River State has caused serious havoc, destroying farms and submerging houses in Ogoja, Yala and Bekwara Local Government Areas (LGA) sweeping away rice plots, yam, cassava and cocoyam farms.Badly affected villages by the rain are Adum, Ogba, Izibollo in Ntrigom, Mfuma and Mbora all in South Ukelle wards of Yala Local Government Area and Ezekwe, Okpodon, Wanikade and Wanihem in North Ukelle wards in the same Yala LGA.

Other places hard hit by the flood are Yahe, Aliforkpa, Ekprinyi, Wodah and Etekpa all in the same Yala local Government Area.Also some areas like Aladim, Ogoja Ndep, Bansara, in Ogoja were equally impacted by the menacing flood that lasted for over a week.It was a sad experience by the people of these areas who lamented loss of properties worth millions of Naira and their source of livelihood as the villagers looked helpless after losing everything to flood.At the village of Adum in Ntrigom, South Ukelle ward, one of the affected persons, a widow, who gave her name as Madam Cecilia Ugbem said that she lost her husband last year and the impact of the flood this year amounted to double tragedy on her.“Everything I planted is gone. My rice, yam and cassava farms are all gone. For the past three weeks, the water level in the river has continued to rise. We have never experienced a situation like this in this community before. I have lived here for over 50 years and seen all sorts of things but never seen this kind of flood water”.For over three weeks the water level have remained stagnant with increasing rains making the entire crops in the farms useless as the devastated farmers and villagers have cried out to both the state and federal governments to come to their rescue in terms of food, money, shelter and many others thingsThe Chairman of the Adum community, Kieran Agara said climate change impact is real as “we hear the cutting down of trees would generate excessive heat but what we are seeing is excessive rainfall and this is inflicting terrible pain on us. We also hear the climate change impact could be forward or backward, that is excess heat or excess rain and here we are, excessive rainfall has dealt with us. There is hardly a day that rain does not fall here and the rain comes in high volume”.At Yahe, it was the same story of woes. A farmer, Edra Iyaji said the local river which flows into the cross river flooded its banks three weeks ago and swept away their crops.He lamented, “As I talk to you now, many of us do not have anything to hold on to. The yams, rice and cocoyam we depended on for survival have all gone. In three weeks’ time, there will be a new yam festival. Tell me what will be our fate?”At Ogoja Ndep, a largely rice cultivating community, almost all the rice farms have been flooded and Adaji Michael said the rice they tried to rescue are “mainly chaff and worthless…Nobody can eat it. What we are going to experience this year is going to be massive hunger”.The Director General of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Antigua Edem Gill who visited the affected areas with his team, said, “NiMET warned that Cross River is amongst states that would be impacted by severe flooding this year and we went around warning the residents of riverine areas to avoid farming near rivers , but my brother, these people have been farming in these areas for many years without much flooding but this year’s flooding has been unprecedented in some places.