Olanrewaju Lawal,Birnin Kebbi
    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has distributed relief materials to 638 victims of rainstorms in Kebbi State.
    Head of NEMA,  Sokoto Operations Office, Dr. Kofoworola Soleye, who was represented by Head of Account Unit,Alhaji Abubakar Yusuf, distributed the materials to the affected victims in Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday.
    Soleye explained that a team of the Agency have came and assessed the level of the damage done by the rainstorm in the state stressed that the relief items could not commensurate with what the victims have lost, but to cushion the effect of the difficulty they faced.
    According to him, “we are here not to pay the 638 victims of the storm, but to show our concern and give some relief materials to them in order to cushion the effects of the disaster caused by the rainstorm.
“The relief materials comprised 114 bags of rice, 114 bags of beans and 114 of millet 12 kegs of vegetable oil, 10 cartons of tin tomatoes, 19 cartons of seasoning cubes, 228 pieces of foam mattresses, 342 pieces each of nylon mats, blankets and mosquito nets.
“Others are, 980 bags of cement, 980 bundles of roofing sheets, 216 packets of zinc nails, 109 bags of three inches nails and 980 pieces of ceiling boards,” Soleye said.
In his remarks, the Executive Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA),Alhaji Sani Dododo, explained that, the victims of the rainstorm were carefully selected and recorded by the district and village heads in Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area  in order to ensure their actual identities.
     Dododo said that the seasonal rainfall prediction (SRP) by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had shown that some parts of the state and the country might experience heavy rainfall this year .
“The prediction may be worse than what was predicted earlier as we have so far witnessed an extension of flood to other four local government areas that are not amongst the 11 predicted to witness flood by NIMET.
  “The agency will not relent in its efforts to ensure the protection of people’s lives and property. We are going to collaborate with all the stakeholders in the state to sensitise the public to take precautionary measures against disasters; especially flood and  windstorm, and their management in both the rural and urban areas.
The chairman also appealed to the residents in the riverine areas to relocate to the upland, and the general public to ensure the evacuation of wastes from waterways and drains within and around their environment.