The Adamawa State office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has distributed foodstuffs and other relief materials to 800 households identified as victims of the 2022 flood in the Madagali Local Government Area of the state.

This information is contained in a statement signed by the spokesperson of the agency,  Hafiz Bello, and made available to journalists in Yola on Sunday.

According to him, the items include hundreds of bags of rice, beans, maize, gallons of vegetable oil, seasoning cubes and tomato paste.

Other items are bundles of rubber mats, towels, blankets, mosquito nets, clothing materials like children’s wear, men’s wear, buckets, plates, spoons and plastic cups.

Mustapha Habib, the agency’s director-general, represented by the head of operations, Ladan Ayuba, at the distribution point, said the gesture demonstrated concern for the victims.

He called on the victims to make judicious use of the items to enable them to get succour and stabilise from the disaster which befell them during the rainy season.

He noted that about 433 local government areas in 35 states of the federation were badly affected by the flood.

“Let me use this forum to once again call on Nigerians to desist from erecting structures on waterways or residing in water lodged areas,” he stressed.

He advised Nigerians to adhere to the early warning signs from the National Hydrological Agency and other relevant agencies to prevent themselves from falling victim to floods.

He expressed the determination of the federal government to strengthen the capacity of the state in disaster management and that of local government emergency committees on the mitigation of risk and disaster management.

He said the state has already established local government emergency committees and urged residents to cooperate with such committees to guard against such emergencies.

The council chairman of the area, Andrause Gadzama, who responded on behalf of the affected communities and the local council, expressed his gratitude to the federal government for the gesture.

“We equally thank the minister of Humanitarian affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, and NEMA for the kind gesture,” he said.

(NAN)