The National Emergency Management Agency, on Saturday, commenced the distribution of relief materials to the victims of the 2022 flood in Kwara State.

The distribution of the relief materials was flagged off by Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Kayode Alabi.

Items distributed to the beneficiaries included agricultural inputs, food items, sewing machines, grinding machines, mosquito nets and mattresses, among others.

Speaking at the event, the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, who was represented by the agency’s Head of Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr Ephraim Tony, recalled that the  2022 flood disaster devastated many communities across the country,  including Kwara State, where most of the people in the communities were displaced and their farmlands and crops were completely washed away by water.

‘‘Based on the assessments which were jointly conducted by the NEMA and State Emergency Management Agencies, the Federal Government approved this special intervention to assist vulnerable persons across the country and those affected by the flood to support their quick return to normalcy.

“This intervention is also expected to drive the sustainable socio-economic resilience of the targeted most vulnerable individuals. NEMA staff were deployed to conduct the verification of the target beneficiaries in collaboration with personnel from SEMA, State Agricultural Development Project and other relevant stakeholders. A total of 660,884 households were verified and targeted to benefit from this special intervention across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory,” Ahmed stated.