Flooding: Anambra community informs NEMA and SEMA to join hands in rescuing IDPs

The Umueri community in Anambra State has expressed worry over the management of the camps for internally displaced people in the state without the involvement of both the National Emergency Management Agency and the State Emergency Management Agency.

Anambra was reportedly one of the states most severely impacted by this year's flood disaster, with numerous fatalities, communities swamped in water, and damaged property valued at hundreds of millions of Naira.

However, Johnny Metchie, the community's president general, claimed that the government had not shown up to help the people during the crisis.
Metchie, who has been visiting various camps and donating supplies across the state government-established IDP camps, expressed concerns that there may soon be a serious outbreak of certain diseases in the IDP camps due to the careless ways that things were being managed, including food, medicine, and other items donated by well-meaning people and organizations.
In the IDP camps in Umuleri, Aguleri, and the entire state, Metchie, who was just named the African Director of the International Association of World Peace Advocates, bemoaned conditions that were far below what was acceptable anyplace in the world.

He claimed that rather than NEMA and SEMA, new Local Government council chairmen were given complete control over the IDP camps for Anambra flood victims. These chairmen, aside from lacking any prior disaster management experience, were not even using the services of experts, such as health officials, nurses, doctors, and others to guarantee that the victims' essential food and medications were safe.

He said I have been going around the different IDP camps in Anambra State. While I commend the efforts of the state government led by Prof. Chukwuma Soludo in quickly responding to the needs of the victims by setting up IDP camps, I cannot but express disappointment with the total absence of federal agencies like NEMA, as well as SEMA which would have brought in some level of professionalism in the operations.

References

[1] Punchng, 'Flooding: Rescue IDPs, Anambra community tells NEMA, SEMA' (online, 2022) <https://punchng.com/flooding-rescue-idps-anambra-community-tells-nema-sema/>.