Group urges quick intervention as flood ravages Bayelsa communities

Anon-governmental organisation, the Core Advocate For Genuine Change and Peace Initiative (CAGCPI), has urged the Bayelsa State Government to urgently intervene and save communities impacted by flooding in the state.

Its Director General, Jacob Brave Obekuma, in a statement in Yenagoa, blamed the situation on government’s negligence, saying Bayelsa was among the states that received the highest allocation from the Federation Account.

Brave said the ecological fund, revenues accruing to the state from excess crude, income from the state’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and international donors, were enough to mitigate the effects of natural disasters like flood.

He said Governor Douye Diri’s administration should rise above rhetoric and muster the political will to develop the state’s decaying and even non-existent infrastructure.

He described the flood situation as a triple tragedy for residents of the state, who are struggling to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and #EndSARS protests.

Brave urged Governor Diri to take advantage of the incoming dry season to embark on massive infrastructure projects, especially construction of new roads, the proposed flyover at Tombia Roundabout, and standard drainages across the state to check future flooding.

He commended Bayelsa people for their peaceful disposition during the #EndSARS protests in the state, adding that Governor Diri did well in setting up a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to look into cases of police brutality in the state.

However, residents of the state have continued to recount their ordeals, while lamenting Federal and state governments neglect in building infrastructure, as the Edepie-Imiringi road linking Yenagoa with communities in the East Senatorial district, where former President Goodluck Jonathan hails from, has been cut off by erosion and flooding.

MEANWHILE, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, has stressed the need for Ijaw and Niger Delta youths to look beyond restiveness, politics, the oil, and gas sector and redirect their energies towards exploring the abundant business opportunities in the state and the region.

IYC spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, made the call during a visit to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BARAZA Multipurpose Cooperative, Miebi Bribena in Yenagoa.

While blaming the dwindling economic fortunes of the region on total dependence on oil and gas, Ekerefe lauded Bribena’s vision of divesting the Bayelsa State economy from oil and gas to creating business opportunities for the youths.

He, therefore, urged Ijaw youths to take advantage of the investment opportunities in the Baraza multi-purpose cooperative and become self-reliant.