Sylva Visits IDPs Camps, Damaged East-West Road

Minister of state for petroleum resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has visited Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital to commiserate with displaced victims of the recent flood disaster, declaring that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has directed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry to ensure damaged roads in the region are repaired.

Sylva, who also visited Okogbe community section of the East/West Road which was severed by the flood, insisted that there must be a collective effort to find a solution to the repeated flooding of the region.

The minister, who was in company of the executive secretary of the Nigerian Content, Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote, also visited the state government IDPs camps located at Igbogene and Ox-Bow Lake and donated some relief materials. He said the devastation by the flood is unbelievable.

He said, “I have come all the way from Abuja with a message from the Federal Executive Council, we have given a directive to the NDDC and the Niger Delta Ministry to ensure that the repairs of this road are completed expeditiously.

“But this of course is beyond what we are talking about because this happens every year, as we stand here we know that the water is receding but the water will come back in a matter of few months next year, we must look for some kind of solution to this problem which has bedeviled us year on and year out.