The North East Development Commission, (NEDC) has distributed bags of rice, beans, vegetable oil wrappers, blankets, vegetable oil among others to the victims of flood disaster in Gombe state.
Presenting the relief items to the Gombe state government, the Director-General of the commission said that the commission is working closely with the state Emergency Management Agency in the distribution exercise to ensure that it is hitch-free.
Represented by its official in Gombe state, Rufa’i Lawan Babamanu, the DG said the commission’s officials had interacted with members of the affected communities to know the items lost to the flood.
He noted that the commission eventually realized that food stuff and household items were the most affected during the flood aside the damage to the houses.
Rufa’i said the distribution exercise cuts across all the affected Local Government Areas of Gombe, Yamaltu Deba, Billiri, Nafada and Kwami.
He said about 200 affected persons were identified, screened and catered for in Bogo communiy of Akko LGA as the first to benefit from the gesture while other LGAs will follow.
He indicated that the NEDC, which is an interventionist commission, is on stand-by to offer support to any affected community in the state and by extension the entire north east region.
He assured that the commission will continue to parley states in data generation for accuracy and fairness in reaching out to victims of disaster and other vulnerable members of the society in times of needs.
The Deputy Director, Relief and Rehabilitation, Gombe State Emergency Management Agency, Mrs Lamis Benjamin said ever since the unfortunate flood disaster of the 20th July 2020 occurred in Gombe, the agency, at the instance of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya immediately swung into action and visited the ravaged communities where they assessed the damages and identified the victims for documentation and necessary support.
She said ” few days later, the team of Gombe state government jointly revisited the affected communities with officials of NEDC in Bogo area of Akko local government to validate the earlier generated data through community leaders for quick intervention”.
Beneficiaries of the gesture, mostly Bogo residents expressed appreciation to the commission and the state government for bringing succour to them.
They particulary commended Gombe state Government for its show of concern since the flood disaster that ravaged their communities.
It may be recalled that Gombe state government had earlier set up a committee under the chairmanship of the state Commissioner of Works to assess the level of damage as well as the affected persons and areas across the state for government’s intervention.
