By Emma Amaize

WARRI—FORMER national president of the Ijaw Youth Council, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, has called on the National Assembly to declare a national emergency on flood.

Ekiyor, who berated the Federal Government and its agencies for allegedly displaying “high-level incompetence” in tackling the current flood disaster, said hundreds of communities around the River Niger and Niger-Delta had been submerged without adequate response strategy.

Ekiyor, whose home town, Patani in Delta State, had gone under water, said: “The Federal Government and its agencies are displaying high level incompetence in tackling this national disaster, otherwise what is NEMA, NIWA, NIMASA, NDDC Niger-Delta River Basin, Benin-Owena River Basin, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Federal Ministry of Works and indeed the Ministry of Niger-delta waiting for?

“All these government agencies I mentioned operate within the riverine areas. They generate income or carry out project in these areas that are now over flowing.”