November 04, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Society of Red Cross (NRC), with support from the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), has distributed relief items with N100,000 to 1,850 victims of the recent Maiduguri flood disaster.
The Assistant Coordinator of Disaster Response of the Red Cross and Incidence Manager of the program, Dauda Mohammed stated this during the flagging off the distribution of the relief materials worth millions of naira held in Maiduguri.
According to him, the Red Cross society came to support the efforts of the state government to alleviate the plight of those who were affected by the recent floods.
“Today we are targeting 1,850 persons affected by the flood. We are supporting them with N100,000 cash, a blanket, mat, mosquito nets, kitchen utensils, sanitary items, buckets and tent materials.
“As you are all aware there was a sudden flooding as a result of the spillover of the Alau Dam which affected 80 percent of Maiduguri and its environs. Part of the support of the Red Cross is to support the government to bring succour to the people.
“The number one criteria used is for the beneficiary to be in Borno, in locations affected by the flood as well as the flood has affected your houses.
“We choose the most vulnerable people such as pregnant women, lactating mothers and elderly people, orphans and children of the people with disability and of course the poorest of the poor”, he said.
Also, the Chairman of the Borno chapter of the Nigerian Red Cross (NRC), Alhaji Bulama Mali Gubio, represented by the Special Adviser, NRC, Alhaji Abba said the items are just part of their windows mites to support victims of the Maiduguri flood.
“We are giving them mats, blankets, buckets, solar lamps, sanitary pads, kitchen utensils, and other materials just to support them as we cannot replace what they lost 100 percent; only God can replace them.
“We are targeting about 2,000 victims of the Maiduguri flood, and we are going to expand the beneficiaries under the next phase.”
Beneficiaries, Fatima Bukar and Madu Kolo, thanked the Red Cross and its partners for the gestures.
“We thanked both the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), the Nigerian Red Cross (NRCS) International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), and the entire Red Cross society for the support, we are grateful, May Allah reward them abundantly.”
THEWILL recalls that more than 60 percent of Maiduguri witnessed floodwater, which killed scores of lives and destroyed public and private properties worth billions of Naira.
