With succour not forthcoming for the victims of last year’s flood disaster in Kogi State, the state government has said the N1.5 billion it received from the federal government, local and international organisations as well as some philanthropists to bring relief to the victims is intact in a bank.
This was disclosed to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY in Lokoja by Pastor James Adedoyin, the information officer of the relief material committee set up by the state government to assist the victims of the disaster in the affected nine local government areas.
He said property worth N3 billion were lost to the ravaging flood, adding that to mitigate its effects, 82,455 of the victims were housed in 91 camps in the local councils. Adedoyin further said that over 152,000 hectares of farmlands were washed away by the flood.
On the alleged abandonment of the victims by the state government, Adedoyin said: “We had put in place a mechanism through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and relief camp committee, which membership include the Deputy Governor Yomi Awoniyi and other people of unquestionable characters to distribute food, drugs and other essential materials to the people on a daily basis.”
Adedoyin frowned at the victims who alleged that the state government had abandoned them, asserting that those behind the insinuations were “fake victims who will collect the items, leave the camp, sell them and come back for another ration. It was when their pranks were discovered that they went to town with different tales of their woes.”
He said the verification committee has submitted its report while the state government is set to build houses for landlords who lost their homes, adding that no kobo had been disbursed to any victim.
One of the victims in Bassa Local government area, Labato Musa told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the government was only economical with truth and asked “how long will it take them to finish their planning.”