The member representing Burutu Federal Constituency, Hon Julius Pondi has accused the Federal Government and its agency, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of turning deaf ears to the pleas of most vulnerable citizens in his constituency who have been suffering untold hardship occasioned by massive perennial flooding.
Pondi, in a statement he personally signed and made available to BIGPEN Online on Sunday, said that in the past four weeks, Burutu Federal Constituency and its adjoining local government areas have been under massive flooding following days of unending rains and pounding ocean wave surges that has led to increase in water level.
In their wake, several towns and villages have succumbed to these natural discomfort making several houses uninhabitable and other valuables devastated, he said.
Pondi said that thousands of people including the aged, the sick and children have been displaced from their homes, and schools made to shut down for weeks.
According to him, some of the most affected are Burutu Township, and several towns and villages in the local government area, while neighboring local government are also victims.
Ayakoromo community and it’s secondary school, the Ayakoromo Grammar School are not spared, he disclosed.
The federal lawmaker also mentioned places like, Bolou Ndoro Community, Egodor, Okpokunou, Tuomo, Torugbene, Ojobo, Tamigbe, Obotebe, Gbekobu, Akparemo gbene, Ogbeingbene, Ofenibeinghan (Okrika) and many others as locations that have been submerged by flood waters.
Expressing worries over the development, Pondi lamented that the federal government and its relief agency, NEMA had persistently turned deaf ears to his pleas to ameliorate the suffering of his people.
Pondi said that he had also cited the case of the people of the constituency at the house of representatives plenary yet NEMA or any federal government ministries had not deem it fit to take action.
He lamented that similar flooding in other parts of the country are often promptly and swiftly attended to with public messages from state actors expressing their empathy for victims and the assurances of quick and sweeping supplies of aids.
Consequently, he lamented that the case of his people had been different stressing, “thousands of residents (my constituents) are taking refuge in alternative places waiting for the intervention of the federal and state authorities”.
“The flooding has in recent times become an annual irritation, and in spite of my outcries for help both at plenary sessions of the house of representatives and privately with stakeholders to seek the aid of federal authorities, nothing is usually done for my people to ameliorate the devastation, even as I often note that similar flooding in other parts of the country are often promptly and swiftly attended to with public messages from state actors expressing their empathy for victims and the assurances of quick and sweeping supplies of aids.
“The same should be done for my people in the spirit of fairness, equity and public good.
He said that this year flooding in Burutu Federal Constituency is most devastating, saying that many residents who have narrated their ordeal to him had lamented lack of federal and state government relief measures for flood victims.
While calling for aid for the affected victims, Pondi urged the Delta state government to send aid materials to victims of the floods, and urgently interface with the federal government in order to continually infuse a sense of belonging in the people of Burutu Federal Constituency and the communities affected in the adjoining local governments
Continuing, he said, “It is my fervent expectation that the National Emergency Management Agency would this time hearken to the cries and anguish of the people in the affected areas by coming to their aid quickly.
He however called on the federal ministries of Works and Housing, Niger Delta Affairs as well as that of the Environment to partner with the Delta State government and proffer a lasting and enduring solutions to the frequent menace of flooding in the riverine communities and the coastal fringes of Delta State.
“I sincerely sympathize with you my dear constituents for this calamitous times we find ourselves. It’s most unfortunate that once again we are under attack from natural discomfort. in trying everything possible to ensuring that these times are only temporary, its my prayers and believe that things are back to normal as soon as possible”, the statement read.
