The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has commenced the distribution of relief materials to flood victims in Kwara.

Gov. AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, represented by his deputy, Mr Kayode Alabi, inaugurated the distribution of the relief materials on Sunday.

Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed, the Director-General of NEMA, said the Federal Government approved the intervention for people affected by the 2022 flood disasters and those classified as the most vulnerable persons across the country.

Ahmed who was represented by Mr Ephraim Tony, Head of Monitoring and Evaluation of the agency, said that the 2022 flood disaster devastated many communities across the country.

He said that in Kwara, most of the people in the communities were displaced and their farmlands and crops were completely washed away by the flood.

“Following the flood, search and rescue operations were successfully conducted in several locations where trapped persons were rescued and given necessary care.

“Immediately after the flood incident, damage and loss assessment were conducted and relief items approved by the federal government were delivered across the states to complement initial intervention by the state government.

“Furthermore, based on assessments which were jointly conducted by the agencies, the Federal Government approved this special intervention to assist vulnerable persons across the country and those affected by the flood to support their quick return to normalcy,” he said.

Ahmed said that the intervention was also expected to drive the sustainable socio-economic resilience of the targeted most vulnerable individuals.

According to him, NEMA staff are deployed to conduct the verification of the beneficiaries in collaboration with personnel from SEMAs, State Agricultural Development Project and other relevant stakeholders.

He added that a total of 660,884 households were verified and targeted to benefit from the special intervention across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The NEMA boss advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the items distributed to them to improve their socio-economic conditions.

In his remark, the governor commended the effort of the Federal Government through NEMA for what he called ‘this timely intervention’ .

He urged the beneficiaries to ensure judicious utilisation of the items.

AbdulRazaq reiterated the commitment of the administration towards supporting all programmes that would be directed towards alleviating the socio-economic hardship of the people of the state.

The Items distributed to the beneficiaries included agricultural inputs, food items, sewing machines, grinding machines, mosquito nets and mattresses among others.