Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, has decried the influx of unaffected persons to the camps of the real victims of the last Tuesday’s flood that devastated the state.
The Governor stated this on Monday while flagging off the distribution of relief materials to victims of the Maiduguri flooding who are taking refuge in about 36 internally displaced persons camps.
The flood which shattered Maiduguri following the overflowing of the Alau Dam, displaced nearly 2 million people within Maiduguri metropolis and environs.
The flag-off ceremony took place on Monday at Bakasi Camp along Damboa Road in Maiduguri.
Relief materials distributed to each victim include a bag of 25kg of rice, a carton of pasta and N10,000 cash.
Speaking to journalists, Governor Zulum decried the influx of people who were not affected by the flood to the IDP camps, thereby making it difficult for smooth operations.
He said, “We observed that it is no more sustainable to continue receiving people in the camps because many people that were not affected are tripping to the camps.”
In addition to distributing relief materials, the governor also announced plans to comprehensively assess the affected areas, which will inform future interventions.
He stated, “So we decided to mobilise the resources and ensure that each affected victim had the relief items.”
“We have also concluded arrangements that we shall do the assessment at the communities to verify the actual number of those that were affected.”
The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Zubaida Umar, highlighted her agency’s interventions for victims of the flood disaster.
She noted that the agency has been providing shelters and mobile water purifiers to provide clean drinking water to those affected since the flooding began.
Meanwhile, Governor Zulum has acknowledged receiving food donation from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, NEMA, and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to support the victims of the disaster.