From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti

The Ekiti State government has called for more federal assistance for victims of flood disasters in the state to mitigate their losses.

Deputy Governor Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi made the call when he received a delegation from the headquarters of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on assignment to the state.

A statement by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Deputy Governor, Odunayo Ogunmola, said the NEMA team was in the state to conduct a verification and enumeration exercise of flooding that destroyed farmlands in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti East, Ekiti West and Ido/Osi Local Government Areas.

Egbeyemi expressed the readiness of the state government to partner with NEMA for a robust collaboration aimed at giving succour to flood victims beyond the four identified local government areas.

The NEMA team which was led to the Deputy Governor’s office by Mrs Aramide Uche was accompanied on the visit by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Chairman, Captain Sunday Adebomi and the General Manager, Mr Jide Borode.

Ekiti State Deputy Governor Bisi Egbeyemi receiving the NEMA team

The Deputy Governor commended NEMA for listening and coming to take care of farmers in Ekiti whose properties were destroyed by the flood but also advocated assistance for non-farmers who have also fallen victims of flooding.

He suggested that there should be justice and equity in the discharge of their responsibility by answering one side and not neglecting the other side.

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‘It is a welcome development if you can come to take care of farmers in Ekiti whose properties not up to twenty thousand farmlands running into millions were damaged by the flood,’ Egbeyemi said.

‘It is good that NEMA is listening to us Ekiti. There should be justice and equity. You don’t neglect one side and leave the other side.’

In his remarks, SEMA Chairman, Adebomi, sought more assistance from NEMA on grounds that attending to victims in four out of sixteen local government areas is insufficient.

Adebomi said the situation on the ground in Ekiti is more serious than the NEMA team envisaged saying the disaster wreaked havoc on other residents who lost houses, shops and other properties.

Speaking earlier, the leader of the NEMA team said they are in the state to identify and verify the affected farmers as a result of the 2020 flooding.

She explained that the exercise is taking place in all the states of the federation to give assistance to victims within a limited scope of time.

The federal government has approved a total number of 1,290 farmers in the four local government for the exercise.