Lagos, Dec.7, 2022 – The Dangote-led Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), otherwise known as Dangote Flood Committee, has started distributing relief materials worth N1.5 billion to flood victims nationwide.
The PCFRR, which was established by the Federal Government following the 2012 floods, is co-chaired by Africa’s foremost industrialist, Aliko Dangote, and Dr. Olisa Agbakoba.
The flagging off ceremony for this year’s distribution, started in Borno State on Tuesday. It was conducted by the State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
The Governor thanked the Dangote Flood Committee and promised that he will ensure that the items get to the victims.
According to UNICEF, the 2022 flood killed 600 people, displaced 1.3 million and destroyed more than 82,000 homes in Nigeria, making it the worst in decades.
Alhaji Umar Musa Gulani, the Representative of the Dangote-led Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), said, at the flagging off ceremony of the Northeast zone, that the exercise would also be conducted in the other five geopolitical zones of the country.
Gulani said the items from the committee had been officially handed over to the Borno State Government and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The items donated included 86 bags of rice, 34 bags of beans, 34 bags of maize, 34 bags of millet, 34 bags of Guinea Corn, 34 bags of Garri, 86 cartons of noodles, 86 cartons of spaghetti, 86 cartons of macaroni and 86 bags of sugar, and 857 bags of cement, among several food and non-food items.
Gulani said over N10 billion had been spent by the committee to mitigate the effects of flooding since it started in 2012, adding that no fewer than 84 hostels had been built for flood victims in 24 states in Nigeria.
Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Habib Ahmed, described the Committee’s intervention as an achievement for Nigeria in general, and the flood victims in particular.
“Responding to the humanitarian outcomes of this nature requires concerted effort,” he had said, adding that the donations by the Dangote Flood Committee would eventually be made available to flood victims across the affected states in Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the victims, Khalifa El-Miskin, a victim, said the victims were extremely appreciative of the gesture.
The Committee also recently, during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, donated N1.5 billion to fight the virus.
Announcing the donation, Dangote had said that it was imperative for well-meaning Nigerians to help the Federal Government in fighting the virus.
The Committee also recently provided N250 million as relief assistance to victims of the devastating floods in Benue State.
Aside from the donation in Benue, the Dangote-led committee also said that it had also donated the sum of N150 million (in kind) to provide relief assistance to flood victims in Anambra State.
It also released the sum of N118 million to NEMA to augment the N1.6 billion released by the Federal Government for procurement of food and non-food relief materials in aid of the flood victims in the following 16 states: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Abuja FCT, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, and Sokoto.
The Global Business News (GBN) reports that the Committee, at its inauguration by former President Goodluck Jonathan, had raised N11.35 billion for flood victims.
Top on the list of donors at the event were Dangote and the Federal Government who donated N2.5 billion each. (GBN)
