Buhari approves release of 12,000 tonnes of grains to flood victims

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of 12,000 metric tonnes of grains for victims of flood disasters across the country.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, disclosed this at the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team on Thursday in Abuja.

She said the Federal Government had so far given intervention to 28 states in the country.

The minister said: “The Ministry through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has deployed its emergency response assets including mobile water purification equipment, search and rescue boats, and mobile intensive care unit ambulances to conduct lifesaving first aid and support to vulnerable populations.

“So far, NEMA has reached out and responded to 1, 427, 370 displaced persons in 28 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

READ ALSO: FLOOD MANAGEMENT: Bayelsa Urges Presidency to engage affected states in planning, implementation

”The provision of food and non-food items for immediate relief and building materials to facilitate the rehabilitation of the impacted populations is still ongoing.

“The distribution of these relief materials in the remaining states – Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Kwara, Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Borno, and Gombe – is ongoing.

“In furtherance of government’s intervention to the vulnerable population, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of 12, 000 metric tonnes of grains comprising of sorghum and millet from the National Strategic Reserve to NEMA for distribution to the 36 states in the country and the FCT.”

Farouq revealed that the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation headed by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, had also provided foodstuff worth N1.5 billion as support to flood victims across the country.

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