Ondo state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has called on the Federal Government to accelerate action to save the coastal communities in the state that are badly affected by sea incursions.
Speaking with officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Akure on Thursday, the governor said there was urgent need to reclaim the affected communities.
The NEMA team in conjunction with officials of the Red Cross Society of Nigeria and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were in the state for a need assessment of erosion prone communities in some local government areas in the state to enable them plan for the next fiscal year.
Represented by his deputy, Olayide Adelami, the governor said the state government does not have the financial capacity to curtail the degree of devastations in the coastal area. He asked for quick intervention of the Federal Government to help the people get back to their normal lives.
According to him, “Your visit to the state to carry out needs assessment is a critical step in humanitarian response planning. This, I am sure, will help you collate adequate data that will assist you to plan for the next financial year”
The governor regretted that people of the coastal region, particularly Ilaje, needed to be assisted urgently beyond the palliative intervention provided by the state government.
“We are doing a lot in the area of erosion control and public enlightenment of our people on how to curtail all forms of natural disasters. The case of Ayetoro and others are not man-made and they occured on a large scale. Hence, the need for federal government’s quick intervention.
“I commend the Director General of NEMA for attending to us each time, we call on her. We are hoping for a more enduring impacts of NEMA on disaster prone communities in the state by next year” the governor craved NEMA’s support.
Earlier, NEMA Desk Officer for South West, Funsho Abdul, said the combined team was in Ondo West, Ilaje, Akure North and Akure South local government areas of the state to collate visual data that will aide their report.
The NEMA official who said it was disheartening to see the extent at which erosion wreaked havoc in Ilaje, delivered the appreciation of the people to the state government for coming to their rescue in diverse means during the disaster.