Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Yekini Nabena, has expressed outrage over the remarks attributed to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiya Farouq, that Bayelsa State is not among the 10 most affected states in the country flood disaster.
Speaking on Thursday at the ministerial media briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Farouq had claimed that “Bayelsa is not among the ten most worst hit states, Jigawa is.”
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster later offered indices such as,
number of deaths recorded and displaced persons per state, number of injuries, partially damaged, houses totally damaged, and farmlands partially and totally damaged amongst criteria used in arriving at most affected states.
Nabena who incidentally is from Bayelsa, however, faulted the Minister as he noted that government should be interested in how to quickly prevent the recurrence of the flood since it was preventable.
The former APC spokesman warned the Humanitarian Affairs minister not to bring religion and tribe into the current flood disaster.
“The woman is worried that Bayelsa is receiving all the attention. She would have preferred Jigawa State which she has awarded the first position.
“Madam Minister should not worry herself because Bayelsa state will not be interested in this kind of competition as to who would come first in a calamity.
“The Minister should be more concerned about how the federal government will prevent the reoccurrence of the phenomenon. It is preventable since the flood has a known circle,” Nabena said.
While challenging the Minister to tell the world if she had ever visited the Niger Delta since the current disaster happened, Nabena warned that “this is a warning for madam minister not to bring in religion and tribe into the flood disaster.
“One will wonder if as a Minister for Humanitarian Affairs you ever visited the Niger Delta region to know the level of this disaster they have been facing after drilling the oil and the cost of spillages everywhere in the region.”
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