Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Duoye Diri, has lamented the country’s devastating flooding, claiming that every community in the state has been affected.
The governor disclosed this during a monitored interview on Channels Television’s Newsnight on Sunday.
Clearly concerned, Diri stated that the state government has converted non-flooded primary and secondary schools into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.
Noting that the whole state is now one big IDP camp, the governor explained that centres have been opened particularly in Yenagoa, the capital, to house displaced persons and begin to attend to their needs.
This is even as he explained that the state government, through its task force and the State Emergency Management Agency, has begun distributing items to cushion the effect of flooding on the people.
“Every community in Bayelsa is an IDP camp. However in Yenagoa the capital city, we have designated some IDP camps. It is not an exaggeration, every community is an IDP camp,” Diri said.
“We have a place called the Oxbow Lake which was used as an event centre. Today, that place has been opened for IDPs and we have no less than 2,000 IDPs in that centres. We also have all primary and secondary schools that are not yet flooded have been used as an IDP camp.”
“That is why the Task Force, together with the State Emergency Management Agency keep distributing foodstuff to every local government and every community because no community is left out.”
According to Diri, the state government is concerned about the possible outbreak of diseases among the IDPs.
To address the issue, he stated that the Ministry of Health has also commenced the distribution of drugs to the people while the situation lasts.
Bayelsa is one of the over 22 states in Nigeria that has been grappling with the issue of flooding recently. The situation has sacked many people from their homes and has destroyed many farmlands, with fears about the security of food.
Already, over 600 persons have died in the recent floodings in Nigeria as of last Sunday.
The disaster had also forced more than 1.3 million from their homes, said a statement by Nigeria’s ministry of humanitarian affairs, released on Twitter.
“Unfortunately, over 603 lives have been lost as of today October 16, 2022,” said Humanitarian Affairs Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq.
The previous toll from last week stood at 500, but the numbers had risen in part because some state governments had not prepared for the floods, said the minister.