Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta has lauded the Federal Government and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for providing relief materials to flood impacted victims and the vulnerable in the state.

The governor gave the commendation at Ibusa on Wednesday  at the commencement of distribution of the Special National Economic and Livelihood Emergency Intervention (SNELEI) to victims of the  2022 flood and the most vulnerable persons in the state at Ibusa.

Oborevwori represented by the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Perez Omoun and the Commissioner for Bureau of Special Duties, Mr Ejiro Etacherure, said the intervention would provide great relief for the people.

According to Oborevwori, the materials which came in various categories will help to address the needs of the beneficiaries at this moment in time.

He urged the beneficiaries to be orderly as they collected the items and to effectively utilise the items to boost their economic wellbeing.

He noted that government could only intervene as flood was a natural disaster.

On his part, the Director General, NEMA, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, said that the commencement of the distribution of the support items to beneficiaries of SNELEI, was a promise kept by the Federal Government.

The NEMA boss, represented by Mrs Ngozi Ben-Okeke, State Supervisor, SNELEI, said that the Federal Government approved the intervention specifically for people affected by the year 2022 flood disasters and for those classified as most vulnerable persons across the country.

According to Ahmed, immediately after the devastating impact of the 2022 flood, damage and loss assessment were conducted and relief items approved by the Federal Government were delivered  across the states to complement initial intervention by the state governments.

He noted that Federal Government approved this second phase of Special Intervention based on joint assessment conducted by NEMA and State Emergency Management Agencies(SEMAs) to support those impacted by the flood to quickly return to normalcy.

He said that beneficiaries of the scheme were dully verified by NEMA in collaboration with SEMAs staff, state agricultural development projects and other stakeholders.

He advised beneficiaries to effectively utilise the items to drive and sustain their socio-economic resilience.

 “A total of 660,884 households verified and targeted to benefit from this special intervention across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The NEMA boss thanked Mr President and the state governments for their supports towards  the implementation of the intervention to support flood victims and the most vulnerable in the states.

In his opening remarks, Director, SEMA, Mr Gabriel Oviemeso, lauded NEMA for the intervention while noting that 19 Local Government Areas out of 25 LGAs of the state was greatly impacted by the 2022 flood.

Some of the beneficiaries thanked the Federal Government, NEMA, SEMA and the state government for supporting them with relief materials while pledging to effectively utilise the items to improve their economic wellbeing.

According to Mrs Peace Boniface, Mrs Ogechi Eze,  Ijeoma Ezenyili and Mr Darlington Dege, the materials will support them particularly at this period of economic crunch in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the items distributed were categories as: Agricultural inputs- Maiz, rice, and groundnut seeds, herbicides, pesticides, liquid fertilisers, knapscak sprayers 16L, Water Pump 3HP and Growth enhancers.

Livelihood equipment – Sewing machines , griding machines ; and  Food Items – Rice(25kg), Beans(10kg), Sorghum(10kg), vegetable oil (2kg), salt(1kg), tomato paste  sachets and seasoning.

Non-Food-Items -mosquito nets, blankets, nylon mats, plastic buckets, foam mattress, sets of cooking pots, toilets soaps, detergents and cooking  stoves.