As the National Emergency Management Agency and the State Emergency Management Agency began distributing relief materials to flood victims in Anambra State, Umuzu community in Ogbaru Local Government Area is protesting that they were left out of the list of beneficiaries.
The community said it has so far lost less than 200 families to the flood and sees no reason to exclude them from relief efforts aimed at flood victims.
So far, a total of 61,070 displaced and affected people were caught on a list, but none of the displaced people in Umuzu were included.
According to the list made available by the two organizations, only seven local government areas out of the eight municipalities qualified and Umuzu community was not on the list.
The Coordinator, Umuzu Flood Committee and Farmers Club, Chris Okwuosa, speaking with newsmen in Awka on Tuesday, said Umuzu community is one of the worst affected during the flood, where more than 200 families are missing for about a month now. .
Okwuosa said, “We have made representations to the state government and agencies involved and even during the flood, no medical team has visited as ordered by the Umuzu Commissioner for Health and the Chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area.
“This is a community with over 200 families missing and affected by the cholera epidemic and the authorities did not see fit to enter Umuzu.”
According to a letter to the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, the community demands:
“Supplying fishing gear and other tools to the victim households, creating a value chain that will remove the harvested fish from them for further processing.
“The appointment of coordinators in the affected communities and municipal areas to supervise these activities.”
“Agricultural children with their extensive experience in coordinating various agriculture-related empowerment activities in rural communities and having fish processing facilities are best placed to coordinate these activities across the state.
“Your Excellency wishes to approve the following for distribution to two thousand households in the communities affected by the flood.
“1,000 rolls/fishing bundle.
An operational vehicle in affected communities and also for distribution logistics for distribution and funds to the CFC as withdrawal subsidies, as well as for withdrawal activities.’
