Port Harcourt—The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has lamented the effect of the flood currently ravaging states across the Niger Delta region and the country.
The IYC said flood hazards are gradually becoming a norm where millions of Ijaw people are displaced with little or no help from the government.
The President of the civil rights organization, Deacon Peter Igbifa in a press briefing at Port Harcourt on Friday maintained that the people of the Niger Delta are usually neglected by the federal government in what he described as the maintenance of the status in every flooding season.
However, Igbifa lauded what he described as the prompt intervention of the Bayelsa state government amid the flooding situation in the state.
He urged other governors in the region and political leaders to follow suit to ameliorate and give succour to victims of the flood.
The IYC president further called on the newly appointed Presidential Amnesty boss to show commitment to cushioning the effect of the disaster in the region,
He added that the 2022 flood has shown that the region is vulnerable to climate change, especially Ijaw Communities.
“The Amnesty Boss can come through by providing sufficient relief materials as he begins his stakeholders’ engagement amongst whom are the displaced and sacked persons from their homes and farms as the seas overflow.
“This can be in the form of food and unconditional cash transfers to the millions of people who are equal stakeholders in the Niger Delta. This commitment I believe should top the chart of the PAP coordinator,” he said.
Igbifa further urged the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to partner with state governments in the region to curtail the impact of the flood on people he said are already grappling with environmental degradation due to oil and gas exploration.
He equally called on well-meaning citizens and IOCs to render help to those who have been affected and displaced by the flood across the region.
