…Demand sack of Minister
A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ossai Nicholas Ossai, has decried the submerging of over 150 houses in Delta State, by devastating floods.
The lawmaker miffed by the development has called for the removal of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Haija Sadiya Farouk.
Ossai, who represents Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency of Delta State, spoke at a press briefing on Wednesday.
Ossai who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements asked the government to sack the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Mrs. Sadiya Farouk, for failure to attend the emergency needs of communities affected by floods.
“The mantra of this government is changing; let the government change the Minister if she cannot respond to the suffering of the people who have been affected by the floods”, Ossai said.
He decried that “since past two weeks, the Ndokwa East Communities of Delta State have been bedevilled by constant and frightening heavy downpour, being accompanied by excessive flooding and erosion, that is seriously and presently wreaking havoc in the Communities.
“This unprecedented heavy downpour has aggravated the already existing and saturated wetland of the communities which is occasioned by repeated ocean surges due to perennial flooding”.
According to him, “the affected communities are Ossissa, Onyah, Ase, Ushie, Ibedeni; Asagba, Aballa-Uno, Agballa-Obodo, AgballaOshimili, Uchi, Okpai, Onuaboh, Inyi, Benekuku, Aboh, Onyah, Asaba-Ase, Ibrede, Ashaka, Afor, Abalagáda, Umuolu, Igbuku, Obettim, Obodo-Okolafa, Iyadama,0nuogboko, UtagbaOgbe, Utagba-Uno, Ogume, Onitsha-Ukwuani, Akarri, Umuolu, just to mention a few”.
He said he was “disturbed that schools, farmlands, health Centers, places of worship have seriously been affected and over One Hundred and Fifty (150) households have been rendered homeless particularly children and women and more are still being affected daily. About Ninety (90%) of the Communities in the entire Ndokwa East Local Government Area has been submerged, and worse still is the deplorable economic conditions of the peasant farmers in these agrarian communities”.
He observed, ” that these Communities are often prone to serious environmental disaster as a result of the vulnerability of constant coastal flooding and erosion from the River Niger”.
The legislator, pleaded with the Federal Government, to “Direct the Ecological Fund office to conduct an environmental survey with a view to addressing the excessive flooding in these Ndokwa Communities and urge the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide relief materials for the Hood victims in accordance with section 6 (j) of NEMA Act”.
