The Bayelsa State Post Flood Management Committee has said that it received the sum of N552,000,000 donation from public spirited individuals during the 2012 flood.
A report obtained from the secretary of the committee, Mr Iniruo Wills stated that the committee received N500 million from the chairman òf Globacom, Chief Mike Adenuga.
It further said that the Bayelsa State government under Senator Seriake Dickson authorised the release of N32 million for administrative expenses and another N20 million for relief materials which include mattresses, food items, medical, consumables, toiletries, among others.
The committee report was released following a petition by a non-government organisation (NGO) to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleging diversion of N17.5 billion.
The report stated that the committee embarked on interventionist efforts in 350 communities ravaged by the flood to complement the efforts of the state’s Flood Emergency Relief Management Committee (FERMC) led by the state deputy governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (retd). The Jonah John led committee was fully funded by the state government with no donor funds.
Soon after inauguration, “the post flood committee embarked on the distribution of relief materials such as mattresses and medical consumables to schools, health institutions and youth corps members’ lodges, while affected communities benefited from food items and other consumables to complement earlier relief efforts by the state’s Flood Emergency Relief Management Committee led by the deputy governor.”
The copy of the report produced by the chairman, the late Chief Francis Doukpola, former chairman of Bayelsa Council of Elders and Mr Iniruo Wills, a former Commissioner for Environment stated that the committee took further steps to ensure that houses that were affected by the flood were salvaged.
It was further stated that a total of 140,000 bags of cement were donated to 350 communities each of which got 400 bags.
The committee categorically rejects the claim that it received N17.5 billion for flood victims at any time.
The former governor, Dickson had denied in an earlier statement that the state government received such funds while he was governor and that the government handed over the N500 million donated by Mike Adenuga to the post flood committee.
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