The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) on Tuesday donated N5 million and assorted food items to the 2022 Kogi flood victims.
The items were handed over to the State Government for distribution to the victims.
The items included 250 bags of rice, 250 bags of maize, 200 cartons of noodles and 200 5-litre bottles of oil.
The Managing Director of the authority, Dr George Moghalu, while handing over the items to the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Victor Omofaiye, described flood as “very dangerous” and “no man’s friend”.
Moghalu said the donation was the authority’s way of showing concern to their plights.
He said: “What we are doing here today is being replicated in 10 other flood affected states across the nation.
“What we are trying to do is to encourage the State Government, especially the environment ministry, to join NIWA in sensitising the public to rid the drains of refuse in order to allow for free flow of water to avoid flooding.
“This is because any attempt to block the drains with refuge only welcomes and encourages flood and the devastation is always huge and disturbing.”
Muoghalu reminded the public about the early warning by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency about more rainfall and flood this year.
According to him, the objective is for proper caution to be taken to mitigate its devastating effects.
Receiving the items, Omofaiye thanked NIWA for the show of concern to the plights of the flood victims in the state.
He also spoke about the State Government’s efforts to arrest the situation and ameliorate the sufferings of the victims.
He said that a lot was being done by the government to ensure that the people living within the 10 flood prone local government areas were protected from the disaster this year.
The commissioner appealed to other well-meaning corporate organisations, non-governmental organisations and individuals to emulate NIWA’s kind gesture.
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