By James Ezema
The Federal government through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has ordered the release of relief materials to victims of flood disaster in Lagos and Ogun States as interim measures to address the plight of the inhabitants of the communities.

This is just as Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel yesterday declared the Isheri axis of the state affected by the flood as disaster area and called on the Federal Government to urgently come to the aid of the state to ensure a permanent solution to serial flooding in the state.

The Director General of the agency, Alhaji Mohammed Sani-Sidi disclosed this after conducting on-the-spot assessments of some of the areas affected in the two states. He said government could not afford to be on-lookers to various hazards or disasters capable of threatening our sustainable development efforts.

While he pleaded that the relief materials should reach the needy, he appealed to states to ensure they have well equipped and funded local emergency agencies to be able to tackle emergency problems as they arise.

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While observing that flooding has been an incessant problem in most urban and rural communities, Sani-Sidi said the present episode was as a result of environmental factors, problems in dam management and lack of adequate awareness which led to the loss of lives, damage to property and displacement of the inhabitants of many communities.

According to him, “the impact of climate change is unabated with attendance of flood, drought, epidemics, earthquake, etc. Therefore we cannot fold our hands and assume every disaster to be due to effect of climate change, all hands must be on deck to find a lasting solution to the problem.”

He also commended the effort of some state governments for setting a committee towards finding a lasting solution to the recurrent problem of flooding and other related disaster in their states.

Sani-Sidi reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government towards alleviating sufferings of disasters victims in the country, most especially now the issue of flood disaster has been on increase. Considering the magnitude of the incidence and present condition of the affected victims, relief materials will be provided as a temporary measure to alleviate the conditions of the victims.

He said disaster is a sudden calamity that damages human lives and affects environment which constitutes monumental setbacks to national development.

He observed that the impact of the flood disaster is more than the previous years due to the increase in the population of the people residing on the flood plains of the main river, the climatic change factors causing increase in rainfall and the blockage of drainages that impede the easy flow of water.

The NEMA boss and his team also met with governors of the two states, Raji Fashola and Gbenga Daniel respectively to commiserate with them over the incidence.