The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, says Jigawa is the most affected state by the flood disaster that ravaged parts of Nigeria.
She said Bayelsa State is not among the top ten affected states by the recent floods, instead, Jigawa is ranked the number one most-hit state.
She disclosed this while addressing the State House correspondents at the weekly ministerial briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
It was reported that Edwin Clark, leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), had earlier said that the humanitarian affairs minister was inhumane towards victims of the flood in Bayelsa and other areas in the southern region.
Clark accused the minister of not taking any measure to mitigate the effect of the disaster, adding that she was more concerned with the activities of the school feeding program.
“We have a humanitarian minister that is not humane, who was only active to carry out school feeding of schoolchildren who were confined to their homes during the COVID-19 lockdown,” Clark said.
“In such an urgent situation of ravaging flood, she has decided to maintain a disquieting quietness. Bodies like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were not able to take proactive measures.
“Where is the mother of the nation, the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari? Her fellow women are in deep agony, seeing their children dying of starvation and treatable minor illnesses because there is no medication.
Reacting to the claim, Farouq said, her ministry had distributed relief materials to affected persons in Bayelsa through the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).
She said the flood disaster is a national issue and she was doing her best in discharging her duties.
“Merely looking at me, you know that I am humane,” she added.
The ministry said the criteria used to arrive at the conclusion are based on the following indices: the number of deaths recorded and displaced persons per state, number of injuries, partially damaged, houses totally damaged, and farmlands partially and totally damaged.
According to the Federal Government’s flood data as of October 24, 2022, 257,913 persons were affected in Bayelsa while 166,076 persons were affected in Jigawa. 219,471 were displaced in Bayelsa while 68,883 were displaced in Jigawa.
The number of injured persons was put at 81 and 148 for Bayelsa and Jigawa respectively. Also, 58 deaths were recorded in Bayelsa while 91 were recorded in Jigawa.
The number of houses partially damaged by floods in Bayelsa was put at 26,509 and 1,564 for Jigawa while 703 farmlands were partially damaged in Bayelsa and 3,849 were affected in Jigawa.
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