Some concerned leaders of non-government designated internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Bayelsa State, who were affected by the 2022 ravaging floods have protested against the alleged neglect by the state government.

The leaders, under the auspices of “Coalition of Respective Leaderships (Co-ordination Teams) of All Aggrieved 2022 Flood-Prompted IDP Camps of Bayelsa State” claimed that the state government maltreated the camps by not sending relief items to them.

The chairman of the group, Leighe Nathaniel, stated this when he led other aggrieved members on a protest to the Yenagoa office of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) in the presence of some representatives of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in the state.

Nathaniel, who was supported by the coalition’s secretary, Christian Iwokurai, lamented that floods victims in the neglected camps located at Agudama-Epie, St. Peters, Ovom, Edepie, Okutukutu, UPE Ovom and Akenfa, among others, did not see even a grain of rice, beans or garri from the state flood mitigation and management committee.

He said the state government concentrated efforts and palliatives mainly on the IDP camps it set up at the Ox-Bow Lake and Igbogene areas of Yenagoa, supplying them with food items and medicals while not caring about others.

“We observe with dismay that the State Emergency Management Committee short-circuited its daily relief response to only the Igbogene and Ox-Bow Lake IDP Camps in the direction of three times daily feeding, provision of a stand-by medical team and facilities, co-ordination and ushering of external donors to the said two camps alone; and thus numerous cash and kind benefits were attracted to the said camps in monopoly within the period under review, and provision of security team.

“Forum further observed with dismay that palliatives were distributed to various targets without due consultation of stakeholders of the intended receipt-ends and thus warranting the eventual non-delivery of the palliatives to the originally designated destinations,” he said.

Nathaniel also expressed fears that many of the relief materials, including money, donated by public-spirited organisations and individuals, were allegedly being hoarded by government officials charged with the responsibility of distributing such relief items to the IDPs.

“Forum has further observed with deep dismay that the Bayelsa State Government’s ugly and bitter history of hoarding relief materials is threatening to repeat itself,” he added.

They appealed to the state governor, Douye Diri, to consider their plight and ensure that succour is also extended to them to reduce their suffering, stressing that they lost property and livelihoods to the floods disaster. (Daily Independent)