Maiduguri: Ndume donates N50m to flood victims, calls for daily feeding centres

Former leader of the Senate, Mohammed Ali Ndume, has donated N50 million to victims of last week’s flooding in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, as part of moves to cushion their pains.

This is even as leaders and other stakeholders from Southern Borno have initiated moves to raise funds for the victims.

Ndume, while lamenting the plight of the victims, called on the federal government to consider the flood disaster a national issue and create emergency feeding centres for the victims.

The senator, who commended Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum for creating over 25 camps for the victims, said the Ramat Square in Maiduguri would be a good place for such, adding that emergency feeding is standard practice worldwide in times of emergency such as flooding.

He said to avert the humanitarian crisis resulting from a high level of displacement of citizens who are still surging the IDP camps, the federal government should proactively collaborate with the state government and make food available by opening up a bigger feeding centre by contracting volunteers.

The senator, who noted that nobody would understand the magnitude of the destruction done by the flood to the lives and property of citizens until the person moves around the affected areas, said the destruction is more than the state government alone can handle.

He solicited the support of wealthy Nigerians, NGOs, and good-spirited citizens to support the Borno State government in addressing the destruction caused by the flood in Maiduguri and its environs.

The Borno South lawmaker further urged the federal government to open makeshift medical centres that will cater to the health needs of victims in the interim.

He noted that such an urgent intervention will help affected residents who are currently camped in IDP centres in Maiduguri.

He said: “The Alau Dam collapse is not just a Borno issue, but a national disaster. I have never seen this kind of overwhelming disaster. I think it will be a herculean task in a couple of days and even weeks for this situation to return to normal. Most houses would not survive because they had been submerged, and the foundations had weakened.

“I am calling on all Corporate Nigerians to rise up and support because the government cannot do it alone. We really need to help make sure that people do not continue to suffer. Some of them have been in their houses for the last six days.

“What the federal government needs to do is to come and do the survey and get dredging equipment and get to the discharge of the Alau Dam and try to excavate the waterway out so that the water can flow and go; otherwise, the aftermath will be more disastrous.

“Most buildings that were submerged are not strong, and if they continue to stay in water, they will collapse. Most people trapped in their communities are still there because it is only boats that the Nigerian military, other security agencies, and the state government are using to rescue people there.

“I am using this opportunity to move a motion since we are in recess for the federal government to intensify action against the plight of the victims of the insurgency.”