NEDC donates relief items to Adamawa IDPs, flood victims

Onimisi Alao, Yola

The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has donated food and non-edible items to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and victims of flooding in Yola, Adamawa State capital.

Adamawa, one of the three states of the Northeast worst affected by insurgency, is still home to thousands of IDPs from affected communities.

Parts of the state has also recently been hit by flooding.

The NEDC gave food an others materials as well as personal hygiene items to IDPs at the Makohi camp in Yola South local government area, and similar items to victims of a recent flooding incident in Yola Town.

The double donation ceremonies were led in Malkohi and Yola town respectively Tuesday evening by officials of the NEDC and of the Adamawa State Emmergency Management Agency (ADSEMA).

Prof Bobboi Umar, the Senior Technical Assistant to the CEO of NEDC, who presented the items to the IDPs in Malkohi, said the decision to donate the relief items was a humanitarian gesture of the commission.

“We’ve brought relief materials, food and nonefood items, as well as personal hygiene items to help fight coronavirus: toilet soap, laundary soap, detergents and disinfectants. We are presenting the items through ADSEMA,” he said.

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The ADSEMA camp manager of the Makohi IDPs camp, Abdullahi Yakubu, had earlier addressed the IDPs numbering 1,218 adults and children who gathered to witness the donation ceremony, listing the items brought to them by the NEDC.

The items included 210 25kg bags of rice, 170 25kg bags of maize flour, 210 bags of salt, 40 50kg bags of sugar, 40 cartons of Macaroni, 40 cartons of tomato, 10 cartons of Maggi, 220 4-ltr gallons of vegetable oil, 500 pieaces of wrappers, 240 blankets, 25 cartons of bathing soap, 40 cartons of washing soap, 40 cartons of detergent, and 25 cartons of izal.

At Sanda Primary School in Yola Town, venue of the distribution of relief materials to flood victims, the Executive Secretary of ADSEMA, Dr Mohammed Suleiman, explained his agency reached out to the NEDC after a recent flood that devasted parts of the town.

He explained: “There was flooding around here not long back. Houses were overflooded and lots of people had to leave their homes after losing valuable belongings.

“When something like this happens, we provide what relief we can and then solicit intervention from sister agencies and partners. We solicited help from NEDC and today they have responded.”