By Ibrahim Bello
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it had distributed livelihood emergency intervention to 9,100 persons affected by the 2022 flood and other vulnerable persons in Kebbi.
Alhaji Mustapha Habib-Ahmed, the Director-General of NEMA, said this during the launching of the distribution exercise of the Special National Economic and Livelihood Emergency Intervention (SNELEI) in Birnin Kebbi on Friday.
“The Federal Government approved the intervention especially for people affected by the 2022 flood disasters and those classified as the most vulnerable persons across the country.
“Following the flood, search and rescue operations were successfully conducted in several locations where trapped persons were rescued and given necessary care.
“Immediately after the flood incidents, damage and loss assessments were conducted and relief items approved by the Federal Government were delivered across the states to complement initial intervention by the state government,’’ he said.
Habib-Ahmed added that the Federal Government approved the special intervention to assist vulnerable people across the country and those affected by the flood to support their quick return to normalcy.
“This intervention is also expected to drive the sustainable socio- economic resilience of the targeted most vulnerable individuals,”he added.
According to him, a total of 660,884 households were verified and targeted to benefit from the intervention across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He added that a total of 22,202 households in Kebbi would benefit from the items.
The director –general, represented by the Supervisor of SNELEI, Alhaji Ibrahim Yusuf, urged the beneficiaries to make proper use of the items to improve their socio- economic conditions.
He thanked the state government and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for providing them with all the necessary support to accomplish the very important and timely intervention.
In his remarks, Gov. Nasir Idris, urged the flood victims to utilise the relief items distributed to them by NEMA judiciously and avoid saling them.
“Committees have been set up by the government, which cut across the local government areas to ensure that distribution of these items reaches all the beneficiaries in good time and with full quantity expected.
“There items will be given out in different categories of food items and others. Whichever category of the items the beneficiaries get, you should all use it judiciously.
“There is no need to sell the items. It is given to you because it is going to benefit you and your family members,” he said.
The governor, represented by his Deputy, Sen. Umar Abubakar, urged the committees to justly distribute the relief items to the targeted beneficiaries.
Earlier, Alhaji Yakubu Bala, the Secretary to the State Government, said the distribution of the items was the first phase, adding that the state government was planning more of such packages to the people of the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the items distributed included sewing machine and grinding machines, assorted food items, non- food items and sundry agricultural inputs. (NAN)
