Red Cross, IFRC donates donates relief items, cash to 1, 850 flood victims

By Ladi Dapson, Maiduguri 
 
The Nigerian Society of Red Cross (NRC), with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), has distributed relief items of N100,000 to 1,850 victims of the recent Maiduguri flood disaster.
 
The Assistant Coordinator Disaster Response of the Red Cross and Incidence Manager of the program, Dauda Mohammed, stated this during the flagging of the distribution of the relief materials worth millions of naira held in Maiduguri.
 
According to him, Red Cross society came to support the efforts of the state government to alleviate the plight of those who were affected by the recent floods. 
 
”Today we are targeting 1,850 people affected by the flood. We are supporting them with N100,000 cash, a blanket, mat, mosquito nets, kitchen utensils, sanitary items, buckets, and tent martials.
 
“As you are all aware, there was a sudden flooding as a result of the spillover of the Alau Dam, which affected 80 percent of Maiduguri and its environs. Part of the support of the Red Cross is to support the government to bring succour to the people.
 
He added, “The number one criteria used is for the beneficiary to be in Borno, in a location affected by the flood, as well as the flood has affected your houses.

“We choose the most vulnerable people’s, such as pregnant women, lactating mothers and elderly people, orphans and children of people with disabilities, and of course the poorest of the poor.”
 
Also, the Chairman of the Borno chapter of the Nigerian Red Cross (NRC), Alhaji Bulama Mali Gubio, represented by the Special Adviser, NRC, Alhaji Abba, said the items are just part of their window mites to support victims of the Maiduguri flood.
 
“We are giving them mats, blankets, buckets, solar lamps, sanitary pads, kitchen utensils, and other materials just to support them, as we cannot replace what they lost 100 percent; only God can replace them.
 
“We are targeting about 2,000 victims of the Maiduguri flood, and we are going to expand the beneficiaries under the next phase.”
 
Beneficiaries Fatima Bukar and Madu Kolo thanked the Red Cross and its partners for the gestures.
 
”We thanked both the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), the Nigerian Red Cross (NRCS), the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), and the entire Red Cross society for the support; we are grateful. May Allah reward them abandantly, they praised. 
 
It would be recalled that more than 60 percent of Maiduguri witnessed floodwater, which claimed scores of lives and destroyed public and private properties worth billions of Naira.