Poultry Farmer, Others Seek Help As Flood Ravages Akwa Ibom Community

Distraught residents of Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State who were displaced by floods have solicited for support from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the LGA authorities for urgent intervention.

A resident at Udok Street, Mrs. Gift Udia whose poultry farm was swept away with over 500 birds and other household properties, lamented that “it will be very difficult to pick – up my life again unless serious intervention comes.”

Worst impacted areas of the oil city included Udok Street, Udofa Street, Essien Imoh Street, Idua Road, Almighty Road, with properties worth millions of Naira lost to rainfall that lasted several hours.

Fighting back tears, Udia lamented, “The whole birds of about 500 chicks died due to heavy downpour that occurred several hours of the morning.”

The mother of four children appealed to the state and federal government to come to her aid, lamenting that she borrowed the money from a cooperative society to buy the birds.

“The state government should please help me because the poultry farm is what my family used in feeding the household. I also used gains from the poultry farm to pay my children school fees because my husband is not working.

“I collected the money from osusu (contribution) and for now, I don’t have hope to pay the money back to the owners,” she lamented.

Also speaking, a resident of Udok Street, Mr Daniel Inyang said his house was submerged by the flood with property worth millions of naira destroyed in the flood.

“Household belongings like mattresses beds, radio, television, chairs and tables, foodstuffs and kitchen utensils are destroyed in the flood,” Inyang said.

He called on the state government to mitigate the impact of the flood in the area, adding that “if another rain falls, it might be worse than the previous one.”

He also advised the residents to stop throwing refuge into gutters and water channels while calling on the local government to build bigger drainages in Eket.