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Nigerian Legislators Demand Minister’s Resignation For Claiming Jigawa Was More Flooded Than Bayelsa

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, was urged to resign on Monday by members of the House of Representatives from the Niger Delta region as a result of her recent assertion that Bayelsa State was not one of the ten states that had experienced the most flooding.

Jigawa, according to the minister, was this year’s flood-worst state.

However, Fredrick Agbedi (PDP, Bayelsa) criticized the minister’s statement as being insensitive to the hardship of the Niger Delta residents who lost lives and property to the flood when speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Monday on behalf of the other MPs.

“The minister’s remarks conflict with the declaration of Bayelsa as a disaster area made by Matthias Schmale, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria.

“We call on the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to honourably resign her appointment as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria failing which Mr. President should relieve her of her appointment immediately,” he said.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency yesterday warned that several states would experience another devastating flooding in 2023 if required precautions were not taken by government at all levels.

The NEMA Director-General, Mustapha Mohammed, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Special Duties to defend his agency’s 2023 budget, said early warning directives to the states were ignored.

The committee, chaired by Senator Yusuf Yusuf, urged the people of the affected states to hold their governments accountable.

It also asked NEMA to go beyond distributing rice, beans and blankets to victims of flood but partner with state governments to set up camps for flood victims.

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