Diri slams Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Farouq, for downplaying Bayelsa floods

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, has come under fire from the Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, for travelling to the region on Tuesday, many days after this year’s floods began to subside.

He welcomed her and said the minister’s visit was long delayed given the state’s flood calamity as they paid her a courtesy call at the Government House in Yenagoa.
He said to Farouq that she would have had a better understanding of the catastrophe if she had come when the flood was at its worst.

If you had come to visit us during the height of the flood, you would have had a better understanding of what we as a government and people went through, said Diri, speaking through his deputy Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.

“Even now that the flood is receding, you will agree with me that its effect is beyond the handling of the state government. That is why we continue to appeal to the Federal Government and other well-meaning individuals and organizations for assistance.”

The governor emphasised that at first, Bayelsa State’s administration and residents were not happy with comments attributed to the minister concerning the state’s flood tragedy, which claimed that Bayelsa was not one of the ten worst-affected states in the nation.

He claimed that the flood reached a height of more than 4.5 metres over usual and wreaked unimaginable destruction; as a result, the news that Bayelsa was not one of the worst-hit states was disconcerting and alarming.

Farouq acknowledged that part of her visit to the state included distributing her ministry’s economic empowerment packages to beneficiaries in the state, even as she expressed sympathy for the government and people of Bayelsa regarding the flood.