•Sends relief materials to landslide’s victims
The Bayelsa State Government, yesterday, vowed to investigate an abandoned shore protection contract that caused a recent landslide disaster in Okoloba Community, Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area.
The government lamented that if the project had been executed as planned, the incident would have been prevented.
Houses, farmlands and other valuables were destroyed in a landslide that ravaged the Okoloba community recently.
A team of senior government officials, led by the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), visited the scene of the disaster to assess its impact.
But the Chief of Staff, Mr. Talford Ongolo, later took relief materials to the victims in company with the Commissioner for Information, Jonathan Obuebite, the Governor’s Special Representative in the area, Iselema Gbaranbiri and Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Zedekiah Isu, among others.
Ongolo said the government would do everything within its reach to review and execute the shoreline contract to forestall further occurrence of landslides.
He said the relief materials were acquired by the state government in fulfillment of its earlier promise to alleviate the plight of the victims.
He said preliminary investigations revealed that the shoreline project predated the present administration in the state.
He, however, added that the government was determined to take all measures to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abandoned project.
Ongolo said: “The state government will carry out a thorough investigation to find out the contractor, factors responsible for abandonment of the project and mount pressure on all relevant agencies to ensure its commencement and completion”.
Stressing Bayelsa’s contributions to the country’s commonwealth, he called on the Federal Ministry of Environment and donor agencies to assist in tackling the environmental challenges facing the state.
Ongolo sympathised with the victims, assuring them of further support and called on philanthropic individuals and organisations, including religious bodies, to identify with the Okoloba community to mitigate the effects of the disaster.
Addressing the people, he said: “Don’t allow the incident to weigh you down. Keep hope alive because the government will collaborate with other stakeholders to proffer lasting solutions to the erosion and other environmental hazards troubling you”.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, Mr. Wisdom Fafi, who was represented by his deputy, Dame Fortune Dorgu, commended the swift response of the government.
Some of the relief materials were mattresses, food items, buckets, stoves and other cooking utensils.
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