Upon the huge amount of money that the FG allocated to flood victims,We were paid N200, N240 as compensation – Adamawa flood victims

YOLA — Some victims of last year's flood
in Adamawa State have claimed that
they received paltry sums ranging
between N200 and N240 as
compensation from the government
even after the Federal Government had
released N500 million to them.
They have, however, said that they
would not relocate to safer areas,
following predictions of heavy flooding
at the peak of rainy season this year.
The Kobis Ari Committee in the state was
saddled with the responsibilities of both
the assessment and disbursement of the
N500million from the Federal
Government.
However, some of the victims in Demsa
Local Government Area of the state, who
spoke to Vanguard on the issue,
criticised the alleged poor handling of
N500 million from the Federal
Government.
Some of the victims told Vanguard at
Gindin-Kuka ward, which was one of
worst hit, that they were yet to get any
form of assistance except for an offer
of between N200 to N240, and asked
that the matter be probed.
One of the victims, Moses Ginam, said he
learnt of the N500 million assistance
from Federal Government from the
media, but was yet to receive any
assistance except that he was told that
the sum of N93,000 was allocated to
affected people in his area whereby
each person would get N240.
"To be candid I only read in the
newspapers that N500 million was given
to Adamawa State. We were told that we
were given N93,000 and when you
divide this money each household will
get N240.
"The Federal Government should
investigate this matter because those
affected were not the people who
benefited from the money."
Another victim, Mr. Francis Emmanuel,
also asked the government to
investigate the incident , saying that, his
community in Mbula chiefdom rejected
the N1.5 million given to them as it was
too meagre to go round.
"They sent N1.5 million to the entire
Mbula chiefdom and the people refused
it because if you are going to share this
money to the people, each will get just a
little above N200.
"Imagine somebody that lost his house
and farm and he is given just N200?" he
asked.
Mallam Abdullahi Gindin-Kuka, who also
called for probe into the handling of the
Federal Government's largesse, said he
was asked to collect N240 from the
ward head as assistance from the
government, but that he rejected the
offer.
The Secretary to Adamawa State
Government, SSG, Mr. Kobis Thimnu who
was the state chairman of Quick
Response Committee that handled the
issues involving the flood victims, said
the money was used for the purchase of
60 trucks of fertiliser and varieties of
seedlings, among other things, for the
farmers.
Thimnu said the measure was taken in
view of the fact that most of those
affected we're farmers.
"You are aware that the state is an
agrarian area and that is why we
decided to give priority to food security
by providing fertiliser and seedlings to
framers," Thimnu said.
He also explained that cash was given to
affected local governments based on the
level of destruction, adding that
Lamurde was given N29 million as the
worst affected.
According to Thimnu, committees were
set up in each of the local governments
with commissioners from the affected
local government areas serving as
chairmen of the disbursement
committees.