The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it has distributed relief materials to 6,637 households and vulnerable individuals affected by the 2022 flood disaster in Nasarawa State.

Mustapha Habib-Ahmed, the director general of NEMA, said at the inauguration of the distribution exercise on Sunday in Lafia that it was a special intervention by the federal government to support flood victims.

Mr Habib-Ahmed explained that distributing support items to the 6,637 beneficiaries marked the first Special National Economic and Livelihood Emergency Intervention (SNELEI) phase in Nasarawa State.

He said the programme targeted 11,000 households, noting that the remaining affected households would be giving support in the second phase.

The director general, represented by the head of planning, NEMA Sokoto, Tukur Abubakar, said the intervention would help flood victims and vulnerable individuals in the state.

Mr Habib-Ahmed said agricultural inputs such as crop seedlings and equipment were given to take farmers back to the land, stimulate crop production and safeguard food security.

“Immediately after the flood incident, damage and loss assessment were conducted, and relief items approved by the federal government were delivered across the states to complement their initial interventions.

“Furthermore, based on the assessments which were jointly conducted by the NEMA and the State Emergency Management Agencies, federal government approved this special intervention to assist vulnerable persons and flood victims,” he said.

Mr Habib-Ahmed thanked President Bola Tinubu for the support towards implementing the intervention and the Nasarawa State government, particularly the State Emergency Management Agency, for providing the support needed to achieve successful distribution.

He urged the beneficiaries not to sell the items but make judicious use of them to improve their socio-economic conditions.

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa expressed his appreciation to the federal government and NEMA for the intervention.

Mr Sule, represented by the director-general of the State Emergency Management Agency, Allumaga Zachary, advised people of the state to adhere to flood predictions by NEMA and Nigeria Meteorological Agency.

Speaking in an interview, Asaba Aveson, a physically challenged and Usman Magaji, a flood and fire disaster victim, respectively, said they had lost many things to the disaster.

The items distributed include 650 sewing machines, 650 grinding machines, 1,450 25 kg bags of rice, 1,450 bags of beans,1,450 10 kg bags of sorghum, 1,450 2kg kegs of vegetable oil, 1,450 1kg of salts, 1,450 tomatoes paste, and 1,450 packets of seasoning.

Others are 750 pieces of mosquito nets, 750 mattresses, 750 pieces of blankets, 750 buckets, 750 cooking pots, 750 stoves, 750 soap tablets, 750 bags of soap detergent, 595 bags of maize seeds, and 595 bags of rice seeds, among others.

(NAN)