YENAGOA – The Bayelsa State government, on Saturday, commenced the official closing down of all internally displaced persons (IDP) camps it had set up within and outside Yenagoa and environs to shelter and cater for the victims of this year’s flood disaster.
While the largest IDP camp located at the Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion was shut down on Saturday, others at the Igbogene area of the state capital and elsewhere would be closed on Sunday.
At the Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion IDP centre, an open air thanksgiving was held ahead of the last meal that was served the flood victims before they started returning to their various houses.
In his brief sermon, the state vice chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria and President of the Bayelsa Baptist Conference, Dr Abili .S. Abili, who preached from Isaiah 43:1-2 and Genesis 9:10-15, assured the IDPs that God had promised that He would not destroy the earth with flood.
“As you are going back home, remember God has promised not to destroy the world with flood as happened in the days of Noah. Remember God and turn to Him”, he admonished them.
Speaking in an interview with journalists, the Commandant of the Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion IDP Camp, Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, lauded the state Governor, Douye Diri, for showing empathy, compassion and capacity in the management of this year’s flooding and victims in the state.
Koku-Obiyai, who is the Chief Whip of the state House of Assembly, said there were over 12,000 IDPs in the camp, stressing that the state government fed them daily for the 28 days the camping lasted without any death recorded
She said, “There were over 12,000 (IDPs) in this camp. God Almighty stood by us day and night. We did not record death; nobody was sick to the extent that hospital couldn’t treat them.”
On the complaint that the government was closing the IDP camps too early as the flood had not receded very well, Koku-Obiyai said,”Many of them (IDPs) wouldn’t like to go because of the nature of feeding. We are all Bayelsans and we know the flood has receded in so many places. Even as we are talking, the flood is receding. So we know; we are Bayelsans.
“So, we will allow people to say what they want to say. We are not insensitive to that. The governor, ordinarily, would have closed this camp on Wednesday. But we are also observing what is happening in places, and that is why the governor and the government decided to close this camp today (Saturday). We will close down Igbogene camps tomorrow (Sunday, November 13). We have been here for 27 to 28 days.”
When asked how the IDPs would get to their homes, particularly those from riverine communities, the camp commandant said, “They would see me after this time. They would see me.”
