From Okwe Obi, Abuja Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja  Paul Osuyi, Asaba, Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri, Tony John, Port Harcourt, Aloysius Attah, Onitsha and Obinna Odogwu, Awka

Nigeria has recorded no fewer than 603 deaths while 2.5 million people have been affected as flood spreads more havoc and sorrow across the country.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, at a press briefing, yesterday,  in Abuja, also announced that 1,302,589 persons have been displaced,  2,407 suffered different degrees of injuries, 82,053 houses and  332, 327 hectares of farmlands completely damaged.

She warned that  Anambra, Delta, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa were still at risk of experiencing floods up to the end of November.

The minister said following the devastating effect of  flood, the Federal Government had sent delegation to Cameroon on the periodic opening of Lagdo Dam which was affecting Nigeria.

The minister, who faulted the lackadaisical attitude of some state and local governments in response to flood warning, tasked them to invest in flood management and also lead on community-base flood early warning signs.

•Act fast, don’t abandon victims, Clark urges FG

As victims count their losses, leader of  Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, has accused the Federal Government of abandoning victims in the Niger Delta even as he urged  immediate deployment of relief measures.

The elder statesman regretted that he was not in a position to visit the victims like he did in 2012 due to age to encourage them.

He lamented“Unfortunately, the Federal Government seem to be nonchalant over the plight of citizens in the Niger Delta. For instance, in Bayelsa State, there is a palpable case of humanitarian crisis. Most communities of the state, including majority parts of Yenagoa, the state capital, are under water. The people of the state, who do not have where to go to, have resorted to some crude accommodation of pinning sticks inside the water, with a platform which they use as bed, made up of cellophane bags. 

“There is starvation in the land, no water for the people to drink, the state is cut off from all sources that supply food to her, even electricity supply, has been cut off. 

“The people now live in their homes with reptiles and other animals, whether aquatic, terrestrial or amphibian, which now drag spaces with humans in their homes, because these animals have also been displaced from their natural habitation because of the flood. It is a scary situation, as this exposes the people to danger.The Federal Government has not done anything to reduce the plight and suffering of the people.”

The elder statesman noted that NEMA, established to handle disaster management, has not also visited the flood victims in the states of the Niger Delta.

“…One would have even expected that 10 years after the last disaster flood that ravaged the country in 2012, a responsible government, which swore to an oath, to see to the welfare of the people, would by now, have taken steps to alleviate the sufferings, by building the Lagdo Dam in Benue State, instead of blaming Cameroonian Government.

“This attitude of not caring, reminds me of what happened some time ago. Billions of naira was voted to dredge the River Niger, during the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) days, but today, there is no sign of dredging in Bayelsa and Delta states.

“I challenge the Muhammadu Buhari’s government to name any development it has carried out in the Niger Delta region, with exception of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.

“Today, the construction of the East-West Road, which began over 10 years ago to the embarrassment and shame of all of us, has not been completed. The road is being threatened. People cannot pass a section of it easily, either to go to Port Harcourt or return, from Bayelsa State, due to the ravaging flood.

“I enjoin these Federal Government bodies to act fast and sincerely. And should ensure that if relief items are provided, they will actually reach the right people for whom it is meant.

“The Federal Government should please act fast. A great disaster is looming.”

Agony as Ughelli-Asaba highway cuts off

Meanwhile, the ever busy Ughelli-Asaba road has been severed at seven different spots at Ellu, Aradhe, Obetim, Obikwele, Iselegu, Ossissa before Nsukwa junction. It was also discovered that part of the East-West Road and Asaba-Ugbolu road were also flooded.

The development  has rendered more households within the affected axis homeless even as vehicles’ owners  who dared to drive through the waters are reported to have lost them.

Wife of Delta State Governor, Edith Okowa donated relief materials to no fewer than 5,500 victims  taking refuge at Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the state.

She  made the donation through her pet project, 05 Initiative, during visits to the camps at Utagba-Ogbe Techinal College, Kwale, with 3,074 IDPs; Alaka Grammar School, Ozoro, with 1,180 IDPs and Isoko Central School, Oleh, with 1,300 IDPs.

. Imo resettles victims

Imo State government has moved victims displaced by recent flood disaster to new settlement centres even as it has provided palliatives to the most vulnerable among them.

Deputy Governor, Prof. Placid Njoku, who led some government officials to the affected communities of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta at the weekend said government would sustain the daily feeding of victims until the flood abated.

. Monarch lauds Wike’s intervention

Oba of Ogbaland, Nwachukwu Nnam Obi, has lauded Governor Nyesom Wike’s inauguration of an interventionist committee to tackle the effects of flood in Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) and by extension the Orashi region of Rivers State.

Obi also commended members of the interventionist committee  for visiting the affected communities to get  first-hand report about the extent of damage by the flood.

The monarch spoke late  Saturday when members of the Rivers State Taskforce on Flood Management led by the chairman, George Nwaeke, visited him at his palace in Omoku, after they had visited communities submerged by flood in the area.

He said the Federal Government agencies ought to visit the affected areas to ascertain the extent of the damage, even as he expressed willingness to partner with Rivers government to achieve its mandate in cushioning the effect of the  flood

Members of the committee had  visited  some flash points in Ahoada East LGA  in order to ascertain the extent of damaged and to empathise with flood victims.

Chairman of the Taskforce committee, Nwaeke, who is the Permanent Secretary  Special Services Bureau (SSB) in the Office of the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, expressed shock at the impact of the flood saying the entire Ahoada West council had become submerged and inaccessible.

Nwaeke thanked  governor Wike, for his timely intervention and appropriating N1 billion to cushion the effect of the flood, and for identifying with the people at hard time.

. Clerics set up victims’ trust fund

The National Executive Council and Board of Trustees,  Christian Association of Clergies in Nigeria has established Special Trust Fund for the rehabilitation of flood  displaced persons in various  holding  camps across the country.

Christian Association of Clergies is an association of all clergies agitating and championing the interest and social welfare of clergies, members of laity and citizenry.

The group in a statement in Onitsha, yesterday,  by its National President,  Archbishop Yiman Orkwar and National Coordinator, Justice Ikpeama decried the  unbearable, pathetic, inhuman, pitiable and excruciating sufferings of   flood victims due to lack of basic necessities of life in their camps.

It urged the government, political class, corporate organisations and affluent individuals to spare no efforts in  contributing  toward ameliorating the plight of victims and their families.

The group called on governments across the affected states and the federation to articulate an action marshal plan and panacea to tackle incessant flooding in the country permanently.

It urged church leaders to intensify efforts in raising funds in their churches to aid the upkeep of victims  and to  put smiles on faces of displaced persons.

. NUJ flays NEMA, SEMA over poor rescue efforts

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Anambra State Council, has flayed the poor rescue  efforts of  National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA)  in parts of the state affected by flooding.

The position of the union was contained in a communique issued after its monthly congress held at Godwin Ezeemo International Press Centre, Awka.

The document was signed by the union’s chairman in the state, Dr Odogwu Emeka Odogwu and secretary, Aloysius Ofodile.

“Congress expressed dissatisfaction with the evacuation efforts by major stakeholders (Federal Government through the National Emergency Management Agency and the Anambra State Government through the State Emergency Management Agency) of persons displaced by the flood disaster in five local government areas of the state. It therefore appealed to them to intensify efforts and reduce as much as possible the impact of the humanitarian crisis emerging from the flood.