Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, on Tuesday donated a truckload of relief items, comprising food and non-food items to flood impacted victims in Bayelsa State.Recall that Bayelsa State Governor, Sen. Douye Diri, had said that nearly one million residents in the state were displaced by the flood disaster and declared a two-week break for civil servants to enable them grapple with the adverse impact of the flood. Interim Administrator of PAP, Maj-Gen Barry Ndiomu (Rtd), noted that the Amnesty Office was concerned about the adverse impact of the floods on the Niger Delta region, hence its intervention.
Ndiomu, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Mr Freston Akpor, said PAP undertook a needs assessment of the victims with Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency before procuring the items.
Akpor explained that the Amnesty Office would give further assistance in subsequent phases of its intervention to assist the Bayelsa government manage the humanitarian crisis occasioned by the floods.
Items donated include bags of rice, beans, garri, pepper, noddles, mosquito nets, disinfectants and drinking water.
Receiving the items, the Chairman, Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency, Mr Wallaman Igrubia, commended the Amnesty Office for its kind disposition to victims of the natural disaster.
Igrubia regretted that the scale of the disaster was beyond the capacity of the state government and appealed for more assistance from the federal government, and corporate and philanthropic organisations.
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