By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Flood victims quartered at Unity Hall, Nnehi, Umueri, Anambra East Local Government Area, of Anambra State, have bemoaned their plight in the hands of camp officials.

The flood victims described the treatment as harsh and unfair.

Speaking when a delegation of the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) visited the flood victims with relief materials over the weekend, the displaced persons regretted that most of the items and monies given to them by good Samaritans didn’t get to them as they were confiscated by camp officials.

They said that the money the governor’s wife, Mrs. Nonye Soludo, specifically gave to pregnant women and nursing mothers at the camp was withheld by camp officials even when they said the governor’s wife categorically stated that the money was meant for them.

While describing their experience at the camp as terrible, some of the victims who spoke on condition of anonymity said that camp officials most times gave a sachet of noodles to families of three and more.

Their words: “That people come with food items and other forms of assistance but the problem is that camp officials barely give us enough to eat thereby worsening the hardship we face.

“The money the governor’s wife gave to pregnant women and nursing mothers was diverted by camp officials. We don’t have water. Camp officials don’t allow us to take water from the facility in the camp and we don’t have sachet water to drink.

“The worst is that the food items people bring for us to eat; they don’t give us to eat. They say they cook for us but we don’t see the food they cooked. We have asked them to share the food stuffs for us so we can sort ourselves out but the camp officials refused. We are hungry.

“The governor’s wife brought money for pregnant women and nursing mothers but we didn’t see the money. Even the money that was given to elderly people in the camp, they seized it too.

“If I have opportunity to see the governor’s wife, I will tell her that the money she gave us was seized by camp officials here and we are hungry because they are starving us in this camp.”

Reacting to the development, the President-General of Umueri Kingdom, Chief Johnny Metchie, said it was a sad development that such thing could happen in the camp despite the excruciating conditions of the flood victims.

He said the camp officials were inexperienced as they were not trained to handle such situations.

According to him, it is the duty of the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Nigerian Red Cross Society and other humanitarian organisations on emergency response services to handle such high profile task.

Metchie however called on government to subsequently allow SEMA to handle such emergencies as bodies like the World Health Organization, Red Cross, trained camp managers, food, security and others were prerequisites to effectively handle such emergencies.

”The people currently managing the IDP camps are not qualified to do so but however we will investigate further to find out what happened to the money the governor’s wife gave to pregnant women and nursing mothers in the camp together with other issues,” the PG stated.

But the Transition Committee chairman, Anambra-West local council area, who said that the camp where the governor’s wife gave money to pregnant women and nursing mothers, was under his custody, insisted that the information of confiscating money donated by Mrs Soludo was false, noting that no such thing happened in the camp.

He admitted that he was present on the day the governor’s wife gave the money and said it was specifically for pregnant women and nursing mothers.

His words: “It’s not true that camp officials confiscated the money. The money is still intact and will be used for other needs of the flood victims in the camp.

“I sacked the kitchen manager about two weeks ago for such misappropriation. I don’t condone maltreatment of people in the camp. I was there to receive the wife of the governor the day she came and I was there too when the donation was made. Everything she donated is still with the camp manager.

“We don’t just share any money that comes to the camp because it is not a Father Christmas centre.

“They also have other needs. Even the one Peter Obi donated is with them. They can account for it. Whatever expenses they made, they write it down. So the story of camp officials diverting the money Soludo’s wife brought to the camp is false.”