Residents groan as Bayelsa is hit by scarcity of tomatoes, onions, meat and rice

Bayelsa State Governor Senator Douye Diri has urged the federal government to declare a state of national emergency due to the raging flood that has devastated lives and property in the state and others in the country.

Senator Diri made the call during an emergency Security Council meeting at Government House, Yenagoa.

He said the essence of the meeting was to brainstorm with heads of various security agencies to holistically assess the situation and find ways to mitigate the effects of the natural disaster.

A statement from his chief press secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, on Sunday quoted the governor complaining about the magnitude of this year’s floods, which he noted had surpassed those of 2012.

His words: “This year’s floods surpassed those of 2012, the highest we have experienced to date. It has become a security emergency.”

According to Senator Diri, “Bayelsa is below sea level and when the flood comes, almost everywhere is under water. Even Government House is under threat.”

The state’s coxswain also noted that the flooding had severely affected communities, homes and road infrastructure, resulting in the state being cut off from neighboring Rivers and Delta states.

“Currently, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called off its strike. But while universities are opening, our state university cannot open because the only road connecting the university is broken into three parts.

“The only road connecting Opokuma and Sabagreia in the Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area and the only one also connecting Sagbama to Ekeremor that is still under construction has been broken. There is hunger and palpable tension in the state.”

Diri warned those spreading false information and protesting against a water canal project by the state government on the Okutukutu and Opolo axes of Yenagoa, the state capital, to refrain from this act.

“There is an ignorant narrative that it was done to protect some people’s property. The state government did not take that action for any particular interest. This is not the time to settle political accounts, but a time to be our brother’s keeper. We must all come together to tackle this problem.”

At the end of the Security Council meeting, the Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Ben Okolo, said that the council has decided that all security agencies will be co-opted in the state flood committee to ensure relief materials reach the victims. .

Mr Okolo noted that the displaced will be secured in their camps.

He also issued a travel advisory to travelers from Bayelsa to Rivers and Delta states to wait for the flooding to subside as the road to both states was cut.

He said the council advised petroleum traders not to take advantage of the situation to arbitrarily raise the price of their products, just as he warned criminal elements not to cause further pain to people who have already been driven from their homes.