FG not ready for disasters – Briggs

Niger Delta activist, Ankio Briggs, has decried the nation’s disaster management approach, saying the Federal Government is not ready to tackle the problem, particularly the flooding ravaging parts of the country. Briggs, who spoke with our correspondent on Tuesday in Yenagoa, faulted the address by President Goodluck Jonathan on the procedures adopted by the government to manage the flood disaster. She said it was wrong for the government to constitute a committee after the flood had destroyed many communities and rendered millions of people homeless. She insisted that the decision by the Federal Government to establish a committee was an indication that there was no structure on ground to handle disaster situations in the country. Jonathan had in his broadcast on Tuesday, categorised flooded states into four and released N17.6bn to enable them to manage the crisis. He also announced the setting up of a committee to raise additional funds for the victims. But Briggs said the Federal Government had shown that it lacked capacity to handle the disaster. The activist, who called for international assistance to handle the disaster, insisted that money was not the problem but “lack of structural and managerial capacity”. She carpeted oil companies operating in the Niger Delta for failing to assist their host communities submerged by the flood. She said, “If oil companies fail to come to our assistance now that flood has taken over our communities, they should not expect our cooperation after the flood”.