A former Bayelsa State Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs, Hon. Austin Dressman has called for the immediate resignation of the minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq over her recent statement wherein she reportedly said Bayelsa is not in the top 10 worst-hit states by this year’s flood.
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The minister had commented while reacting to elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark’s call for the federal government to act and save the Niger Delta from the flood disaster at the weekly ministerial briefing on Thursday.
She, instead, named Jigawa as the most flood-ravaged state in the country.
But in a reaction made available to Mangrovepen.ng on Thursday, Dressman described the minister as clueless.
According to him, it is shameful that the federal government has not acted to cushion the impact of the flood particularly in Bayelsa state through its agencies.
He said there is glaring evidence that Bayelsa State is the worst hit state by this year’s flood given that the state is just by the Atlantic Ocean where the waters released from the Lagdo dam in Cameroun fall, through the Rivers Benue and Niger.
He averred that Bayelsa is the only state that has been cut off from the rest of the country owing to the destruction of some part of the east-west road by the flood which has made it impossible for travelers to ply the road.
While he stressed that the whole state has been almost submerged, the former commissioner noted that the state in the meantime can only be connected only through the waterways and by air, as a result of the flood.
He added that the flood has also led to the closure of schools for over a month in the state, stressing that there is no basis for comparing Bayelsa state to Jigawa on the impact of this year’s flood.
He said, “Glaring evidence that has shown the world where the flood is worst hit in Nigeria, it has been turned to the usual dirty politics of some northerners taking advantage of every situation to speak on behalf of the north by telling blatant lies.
“It is common knowledge that as we speak, Bayelsa State is the only state that you cannot link by road to the western flank of Nigeria through Delta State and to the eastern flank of Nigeria through Rivers State.
“This is so because of the devastating flood that has cut off the East-West Road from the Patani axis from the West on 2 spots and the East on Ukubie and Ahoada axis on 3 spots.
“Almost the entire State of Bayelsa has been under water with all schools closed down over a month ago. As I speak the State can only be connected through the waterways or by air.
So how does the Minister even dare, to compare such a badly hit State of Bayelsa to any other State, talk less, Jigawa State of all States?
“Looking closely at the map of Nigeria, Bayelsa State is just by the Atlantic Ocean, hence all the water released from the Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon passes through northern Nigeria into, River Nile, Benue, and Niger down through Bayelsa State to the Atlantic Ocean.
“And that is why I refer to Bayelsa State as the melting point of the flood. And this is so because all the water released from the Lagdo dam assembles in Bayelsa at the Nun River for some weeks before receding to the Atlantic Ocean.
“To cut the long story short the post-flood era can only be imagined in terms of reconstruction efforts which will run into several billions of Naira.
“Yet a clueless Minister is opening her mouth to talk or say what she knows nothing about. You’ll be shocked that till this moment, no relief material has been sent to Bayelsa State by the Federal Government through its agencies. What a shame! We demand her immediate resignation”, he said.
