RETURN OF FLOOD VICTIMS TO THEIR COMMUNITIES

                                  PRESS STATEMENT                                       
                                   18/11/2012      
  RETURN OF FLOOD VICTIMS TO THEIR COMMUNITIES

 Our attention has been drawn, to media reports citing purported ill-treatment and forced evacuation of flood victims out of the various relief camps by government without recourse to their welfare and proper re-settlements back to their various communities.There is no truth whatsoever in the said report. The decision to return flood victims from the various relief camps back to their various communities was reached having established the fact that it was safe to do so since the flood waters have receded all across the state.

It is also pertinent to state that most of the relief camps are public institutions such as schools which must be evacuated to make room for the resumption of school children who have been at home at all the while following government's directive of indefinite closure of all schools in the state at the height of the flood.

Contrary to media reports of protest by flood victims that they were unjustly sent packing out of the camps without any form of support from government, we like to state for the records that government's support for the returning flood victims have been up to date; right from the beginning of the flood, all through their stay in the camps and up to the point of their evacuation.

The request and demand made by the flood victims to government for a cash settlement of  N300, 000 to be handed out to each of the  victims at the camps before they will accept to return is preposterous and most reprehensible. Government will never give in to such a demand.Our concern as a Government is about how most of the flood victims will be able to start life allover again, especially for those who have lost farmlands,  properties, livestock and other sources of  livelihood. We cannot possibly meet the needs of every single person affected by the flood. But what we can do is to provide some form of succour.

Those who have lost farmlands will be assisted with seedlings and other farming inputs to enable them start allover. We are also putting in place measures to help mitigate the impending famine by stocking our warehouses with basic food items so that people can buy them at subsidised rates, when the need arises.

We urge all returning flood victims to co-operate with government in our quest to assist them deal with the aftermath of the flood. Government will not tolerate any attempt by anyone to politicise or play politics with the issue at hand.Government at the moment is supporting returning  flood victims with basic food items and relief materials to assist them cushion the effect of immediate lack as they arrive their homes.

 Signed
Daniel Iworiso-MarksonChief Press Secretary