From: Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
A nongovernmental organisation, MercyCare Initiative (MCI), has donated food items including tubers of yam, bags of rice and garri as relief materials to ameliorate the plight of Benue flood victims.
Presenting the food items to the state government at the Makurdi International Market housing the internally displaced persons (IDP), on Thursday, Executive Director of MCI, Mrs. Felicia Ajeibi-Upah said the gesture was to support the effort of the state government in taking care of the displaced persons.
“While we commend the Benue State Government for its timely humanitarian support to millions of Nigerians, we do know that with its limited resources, it will over stretch itself to be able to meet the need of the flood victims,” she said.
Ajeibi-Upah said it was as a result of the above and in view of its objective of providing smart emergency response support to victims of human and environmental disasters among other objectives that MCI decided to assist the flood victims with the food items.
Ajeibi-Upah, who personally supervised the distribution of the food items to the victims, however, urged the state government to relocate the victims from flood prone areas to safer haven as a way of forestalling future occurrence in the state.
Receiving the food items on behalf of the state government, a representative of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dooser Agede commended MCI for the donation and promised that the items would be equitably distributed to all the IDPs.
On her part, one of the IDPs who benefited from the food items Doo Shagbagh, thanked MCI for the donation and prayed a god to bless the giver.