Bayelsa floods of fury

Juliana Igbomo (middle) among other victims of the floods

As the floods continue to ravage most parts of Bayelsa State, many residents are helpless. Displaced from their homes and stripped of their means of livelihood, they face an uncertain future.

“What have we done on earth to deserve this kind of punishment?” a woman suddenly screamed in one of the camps established by the state government for victims of the floods.

With a baby strapped on her back and looking quite frustrated by the turn of events, she cut the picture of dejection at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, where she sat on embankment, resting her chin in her palm.

She was lost in thought for awhile and then sprang up as the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Silvanus Abila, drove into the camp in company with a Niger Delta activist, Ms. Ankio Briggs.

Weeping, the woman ran towards the visitors, shoving and elbowing her way through the crowd of angry and hungry victims that had formed a semi-circle around the commissioner and his companion.

The woman mingled with other displaced persons at the sports complex and with clenched fists, she joined them in demanding relief materials from Abila.

“Give us food or haven’t you eaten Mr. Commissioner? We are dying of hunger. There is no water for us to drink,” they cried out.

Overwhelmed by the complaints, the commissioner and his guest tactically retreated. But before then, the woman who struggled for recognition was concerned about a different thing.

Not minding her rumbling hungry stomach, she said, “Help me, my child is dying. Save her life, she is ill. Please I don’t want to lose her.” She wept as she kept demanding help. But her efforts were hindered by the strident voices that had risen high by now.

Having failed to attract the attention of the visitors, the woman, Juliana Igbomo, moved away, looking defeated and forlorn.

Igbomo is one of the victims who sought refuge at the sports complex. Her frustration summed up the condition of other nursing mothers who abandoned their communities to seek help in the facility.

Elderly men, women, children and youths trooped to the complex a few hours after the government declared it open. Some came with the remnants of their belongings, others arrived there empty handed. Each displaced person hustled for enough space at the basketball court of the complex to lay their head. The toddlers were exposed to the hazards of the night, mosquitoes and inclement weather. But the government provided mosquito nets to reduce their pains.

The homes of these people are submerged by the floods, which have affected all the three senatorial districts of the state, including eight local government areas. The communities situated on the waterways are worst hit.

The flood sacked Ekeremor and destroyed Southern Ijaw LGAs, and as well devastated Ogbia, which is President Goodluck Jonathan’s LGA.

The floods did not spare Kolokuma/Opokuma and Sagbama LGAs, including Toru-Orua the home town of Governor Seriake Dickson. It spread to communities in Yenagoa LGA, sacking Biseni, Igbogene, Akeinfa, and Opolo, cutting across the back of the Government House.

Midway, the floods assumed a dangerous dimension and cut off Bayelsa from other parts of the country. It took over the East-West Road, thus preventing people from moving in and out of the state and causing a hike in the cost of food items. There was panic buying of food stuff as residents of Yenagoa hastened to stockpile food against a possible scarcity.

There was a mad rush to supermarkets in the state capital as residents intensified shopping for food items. They bought bread, processed foods, eggs, bags of rice, noodles, beans and canned food.

The price of a sachet of water rose to N20, while a bag of rice was sold at N15,000. Some owners of canoes had a field day conveying passengers to their destinations at exorbitant fares. But some were trapped in flooded communities because there were no boats and canoes to evacuate them.

Painting the picture of the flood disaster in the state, Governor Dickson said, “Everyday water levels are rising. Places I had earlier visited had become submerged over the night. We really have a disaster in our hands. It is because we are not strange to water, otherwise by now many people would have died.

“In most communities, no basic activities can take place again. Schools have closed down and people have had to abandon their houses. Nobody is going to farm. I flew over everywhere and I saw the thing myself.

“The water level has risen beyond where it was when I inspected most of the areas. I was told that Odi and Isampou had become completely submerged and Sagbama is something else. In Biseni, there was no dry land.

“Amasoma is almost gone and these are big settlements. So, we have a very serious emergency to manage.  The government is on top of it. It is a natural disaster over which no human being has control.”

In his efforts to cushion the effects of the floods, the governor immediately inaugurated a committee and charged its members to explore ways of assisting the victims. He announced the immediate and indefinite closure of all schools to avoid the loss of lives.

“The decision was taken to safeguard the lives of children and to keep them away from possible dangers that could arise from the floods. Government appeals to parents and guardians to accept the decision as it was taken in the interest of all Bayelsans,” he said.

But the immediate past secretary of the Civil Liberty Organisation, Alagoa Morris, expressed the opinion that the committee, which is dominated by politicians, could subvert the relief process and divert the materials.

“The distribution of materials shouldn’t be on the basis of where those in government come from. All impacted communities need help and should receive whatever the government will dish out by way of relief,” he said.

The flood victims at the relief camp are alleging that the government officials have failed to implement the directive of the governor. They argued that instead of taking a practical approach to mitigate their plight, the officials spent over four days on documentation.

“They kept us here for over five days without making provisions for food. We don’t know what the government officials assigned to take care of us are doing. We know that the government has given them directive to take care of us but what they are doing is quite different from what we heard the governor say,” an angry man known as James said.

While Dickson is seeking the approval of the state House of Assembly to withdraw N1.5bn from the state’s compulsory savings account to cater for the displaced persons, Igbomo’s condition has heightened the fear of an outbreak of diseases, such as cholera, in the relief cam