GOVERNOR DICKSON INAUGURATES EMERGENCY RESPONSE FLOOD MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

GOVERNOR DICKSON INAUGURATES EMERGENCY RESPONSE FLOOD MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson has inaugurated the State Emergency Response Flood Management Committee for the immediate evacuation of flood victims and provision of relief materials to all the Local Government Areas.Governor Dickson, who inaugurated the committee in Government House Yenagoa, has the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (Rtd) as Chairman while Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Edmund Allison Oguru is to serve as Secretary of the committee.

Membership of the Committee comprising more than 20 government officials has Commissioners, Special Advisers, all Government Special Representatives of Local Government Areas as well as a representative of the State Commissioner of Police, Special Adviser on Security, House Committee Chairman on Environment in the State Assembly as well as Chief of Staff  and Deputy Chief of Staff Government House.In addition to the Emergency Response Flood Management Committee, Local Government Chairmen are expected to serve as Chairmen of their respective Local Flood Relief Sub-Committees as well as Commandants of their various camps.

Governor Dickson, who listed 5 point terms of reference for the committee, said it should establish Emergency Relief Camps in strategic high land locations in every Local Government Area of the state.The Committee is also saddled with the responsibility of evacuating victims of all the flood ravaged communities to the relief camps.Governor Dickson charged the Committee to interface with all relevant agencies of government and other international relief agencies to provide succor for all victims in the camps and work out a post-flood relief and possible mitigation measures to forestall adverse effects on the state’s economy.

The Emergency Response Management Committee is also mandated to undertake any other function in the course of its assignment which may become necessary considering the peculiar nature of the flood.Hon. Dickson said Government has designated the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, Yenagoa as camp for people displaced by the flood and also urged the Committee to identify high grounds in the Local Government Areas and set up camps.

The Governor explained that the choice of the Deputy Governor as Chairman of the Committee was necessitated by the crucial nature of the task before the committee.According to the emergency situation created by the Flood, Governor Dickson said government has already taken steps to notify the leadership of the State House of Assembly to reconvene and reminded it to conclude work on the bill seeking to establish the State Emergency Management Agency as well as approach the Assembly for an emergency appropriation to tackle the problem of flooding.

Responding, Chairman of the Committee, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (Rtd) stated that they would swing into action immediately and gave an assurance that the Committee would do its best to deliver on its mandate.

  The Deputy Governor who said the Committee would establish one major camp in Yenagoa, and two others at the Bishop Dimeari Grammar School and Igbogene in the State Capital, intimated members of the committee that the services they render would be voluntary.
Daniel Iworiso-Markson                          
 Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State