Nigeria Red Cross Society (NRCS), in collaboration with International Federation of Red Cross (lFRC), has distributed over N39 million to 1,250 victims of the 2022 flood in Niger State.
Head of Cash Distribution Programme in Niger and an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) officer from the National Society Headquarters in Abuja, Sakariyau Balaji, disclosed this to newsmen after the distribution of cash to the beneficiaries in Shiroro, Wushishi and Lavun local councils of the state.
He explained that 500 beneficiaries were from Lavun, 500 from Wushishi while the remaining two hundred and fifty beneficiaries were drawn from Shiroro Local Council.
Balaji noted that the Red Cross movements in Nigeria deemed it fit in their usual manner of support to victims of natural disasters in Niger, and as well to support the victims of 2022 flood disasters.
He maintained that the distribution exercise was conducted peacefully devoid of any fracas across the three local councils that were mostly hit by the flood. According to him, each of the 1,250 beneficiaries received N30,500 as token from the Red Cross movements in the country.
The head of the cash transfer programme announced that the beneficiaries from the three local councils were captured and registered since last year by the Red Cross based on their assessment and data collection from the affected people.
Earlier, Secretary of Red Cross in the state, Gideon Paiko, had emphasised that Niger people would forever remain grateful to the Red Cross in Nigeria for impacting the people’s lives.
Red Cross, he asserted, has been supporting and assisting the people of the state for many years in every aspect of human endeavour and hoped that it would be sustained.
Paiko maintained that the cash distribution to the flood victims would go a long way to cushion the effect of the disaster on the affected people.
He, however, advised the beneficiaries to judiciously make use of the money given to them to better their lives.
The Red Cross official urged the state government to complement the effort of the Red Cross by coming up with support programmes to alleviate the sufferings of the victims.
On their part, the beneficiaries assured the Red Cross of judicious utilisation of the money given to them.
