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The Niger Delta Enlightenment Network has appealed to the Rivers State Government to assist the victims of last week's flood.....
The Niger Delta Enlightenment Network has appealed to the Rivers State Government to assist the victims of last week's flood in Diobu area of Port Harcourt.
The President of NIDEN, Chief Salvation Agele-Oba, made the appeal in an interview with our correspondent in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
'The government needs to assist the flood victims due to the enormity of their loss. The businesses of some of them have been paralysed due to that flood that ravaged the area. They also need good Nigerians to help them in whatever way they can," he said.
To access the help from the government, Agele-Oba advised the people of the affected area to appoint some leaders among themselves who would present their case before the government.
He said that, without leaders, it would be difficult for the people to enjoy any form of assistance from the government.
According to him, without leaders, the government will not know whom to deal with.
'Their voices will never be heard if they continue to cry as individuals. But if they have some leaders who will speak for them, I believe that government will soon attend to them," he added.
In a similar development, Agele-Oba appealed to both federal and state governments of the Niger Delta region to remember the people of the riverine areas in their development projects.
He stated that the riverine people in the region had suffered decades of neglect by all tiers of government.
The human rights activist called on the different tiers of government and the Niger Delta Development Commission to construct roads in the riverine areas to ease the transportation problems of the people.
He said, 'If you look round now, you will see NDDC-assisted buses. But if you go to the riverine areas, there is no NDDC-assisted boats. Are the people not part of Nigeria?
'If you carry a tuber of yam to board a boat, the driver will charge you for it, and this has made prices of commodities very expensive in the area."
Agele-Oba called on both the federal and state lawmakers to prevail on the various tiers of government to develop the riverine areas in the Niger Delta, describing the areas as the true host communities of the oil and gas companies.
He added that the youths of the area were violent due to the neglect and that the violence in the region would end immediately the riverine communities became developed.