Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, on Thursday in Yenagoa called for synergy among the three tiers of government to tackle flood in the country.
She made the call when she visited communities affected by the flood in Bayelsa.
Alison-Madueke, who expressed concern over the damage caused by flood in her state, said that all hands must be on deck to bring succour to displaced people.
“I have done a major over-fly of the state and I dare say the situation is very grave.
“Most of the communities are under water, my own village is under water, so it is a mammoth task ahead of us to ensure that we are able to get support and succour to the displaced people,” she said.
The minister said the Federal Government was intensifying its support for the affected states to enable them tackle the flood disaster in the country.
She stressed the need to ensure adequate feeding, provision of health care and security for the displaced people in emergency camps.
Alison-Madueke said government would continue to seek the support of well meaning Nigerians and International oil companies to tackle and mitigate the effect of flood.
She said that there had been no report of any major effect of the flood on oil installations in the Niger Delta, adding “if the water level continues to rise, we would find out what the impact is and act accordingly”.
She, however, said that government was already putting in place measures to safe-guard oil installations and assured that oil production would not be disrupted.
The minister donated relief materials to displaced people in Yenagoa.
She also visited Gov. Seriake Dickson and commended him for rising to the occasion by providing emergency camps for displaced persons.
Alison-Madueke assured Dickson that she would personally work with him to “strategically address some of the challenges of the flood’’.
Responding, Dickson thanked the minister for her visit, and said that the flood had caused havoc in the state.
“This is a tragedy of monumental and unimaginable proportion to this state, the water levels are still rising and it is a terrible problem we have to deal with,” he said.
Dickson said that those displaced had been evacuated from the villages to relief camps in Yenagoa.