The federal government says it will support victims affected by flooding in Isheri community in Ifo Local Government Area (LGA) of Ogun with food items, clothing and other materials.

The minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Betta Edu, said this on Friday while speaking with journalists in Abeokuta after coming out from a meeting with Gov. Dapo Abiodun in his office.

Ms Edu explained that it was important to immediately reach out to support the victims by providing them with basic relief materials.

She stated that President Bola Tinubu was concerned about the flooding that affected part of Ogun and Lagos states, saying she was on ground to provide humanitarian support and response to the victims.

The minister appreciated the churches and the mosques that had provided shelter to the flood victims.

“I have seen videos and pictures of the area that has been affected by the flood.

“We are going to the affected place first thing tomorrow morning to see things for ourselves, see the number of persons that are affected and how we can immediately support them with lots of relief materials, ” she said.

The minister also stressed that she was in the state to ensure that it signed up its social register, which would field into the national social register.

She noted that it would allow beneficiaries from the state to start receiving N25,000 conditional cash transfers, saying it had already started in several states.

“The governor has set up an inter-ministerial team that has been working on it to do verification of beneficiaries of this conditional cash transfer.

“They have been working with the national team to vet the register and ensure they have BVN, NIN and we have verified their houses. This will enable payment to go all out at once to beneficiaries from Ogun State,” she said.

Ms Edu also stated that the FG had been able to carefully map out an immediate intervention that would be carried out in the state.

She said, “We have been able to carefully map out an immediate intervention that will be carried out in Ogun; some are designed specifically for Ogun state, like the Adire scheme.

“We want to support women and men to produce Adire from the very inception to the final product, which can be sold on the international market and also link them up to where they can sell. This is part of how to alleviate poverty.”

Ms Edu added that the FG was also working to see that it provided grants for vulnerable women and set them up on their businesses.

“All these are targeted so that we can achieve the president’s instruction of getting 50 million people out of poverty within the next 42 months,” she said.

(NAN)