The Federal Government on Saturday donated drugs and medical equipment worth millions of naira to Kogi State Government to address medical needs of the flood victims.
The Deputy Director, Health Emergency Response and Disaster Management, the Federal Ministry of Health, John Kehinde, presented the items to Idris Wada, the state governor, in Lokoja.
Kehinde said that the items were donated to address the immediate health needs of the flood victims, stressing that Kogi remained the worst hit among the 20 states that were affected by the flood disaster because it was home to the confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue.
The items donated include 60 litres of methylated spirit, a thousand pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), 3,000 household water filters, 140 cartons of Ringer Lactate and 19 cartons of Darrows’ Solution.
Receiving the items, Wada thanked the Federal Government for the medical items and other relief materials donated to the state.
The governor said that the state government would soon allocate alternative plots of land to victims of the flood to enable them to build new houses in locations far away from river banks and waterways.
“We will do everything we can to give them alternative plots to build new houses but we will enforce extant environmental and town-planning laws.
“When we give them alternative plots, we will also assist them to build their new houses as but we need their understanding and cooperation.
“Now, we are back to the drawing board, planning ahead so that such a thing will never happen to us again. In the future, we will be better prepared with good planning strategies and strict enforcement of regulations.”
Besides, Wada said that the state government planned to invest in water transportation in collaboration with the private sector so as to provide alternative means of transportation for the people.
The federal government pledged that 10,000 anti-malaria drugs and 500 insecticide-treated bed nets would also be delivered to the state by Tuesday.
