By Davies Iheamnachor

PORT HARCOURT: The Rivers State government has confirmed the receipt of presidential palliatives for local governments and communities affected by floods in the state.

On Tuesday, the State Flood Prevention and Management Committee began distributing the items received from the Federal Government.

While supervising the process, the Deputy Governor of the state, Prof. Ngozi Nma Odu, explained that the palliatives would be distributed across all 23 local government areas (LGAs) and to non-indigenes.

Odu, who chairs the committee, stated that the decision to extend the distribution to non-indigenes was because flood-affected communities had already received assistance from the state government multiple times.

She noted that some stakeholders had already received their share of the palliative and expressed hope that the aid would serve as a Christmas gift for the residents.

The state received 2,700 bags of 50kg rice, 1,070 treated mosquito nets, 140 cartons of tomatoes, and other items.

“We have given some to stakeholders. These were sent to the state for distribution. We have 2,700 bags of 50kg rice, 1,070 mosquito-treated nets, and 140 cartons of tomatoes.

“We are going to distribute it to the 23 local government areas and the non-indigenes. We intentionally included non-indigenes, so we are dividing everything by 24. We have provided palliatives to the flood-affected areas repeatedly. This time, we decided that it should go to everyone, and we want to ensure they receive it before Christmas. It has become a Christmas palliative for them. These are the presidential palliatives sent to the states,” Odu said.