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From Femi Folaranimi, Yenagoa
The flood disaster that has visited Bayelsa has triggered acute fuel scarcity just as prices of food items have gone over the roof as the state has been cut off from the supply of petroleum products and foodstuffs from neighbouring states.
According to an investigation, the state of the road at the Delta axis and the Ahoada axis which has cut off Bayelsa has made it difficult for trucks and vehicles bringing food items such as garri, tomatoes, onions, beans, rice, poultry products and fuel to access the state.
Investigations in the market indicated that custard of garri is being sold for N3, 500, a piece of onion for N500 while a bag of rice is now being sold for N50, 000.
Aside from the NNPC fuel station at Bay Bridge junction which sells a litre of fuel for N180, three other fuel stations that are dispensing fuel are selling at N400 per litre.
Residents of the state, having waited in vain for the opening of the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps by the state government, have opened camps by the roadside to sleep.
Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State Government has again appealed for help declaring that the state is facing a humanitarian crisis.
The State Commissioner for Environment, Commissioner for Environment and chairman of the state’s Task Force on Flood Mitigation and Management Mr Iselema Gbaranbiri, who raised the concern on Saturday while giving an update on the committee’s activities, said no fewer than 300 communities and villages have either been totally or partially submerged in the state.
Gbaranbiri also disclosed that about 700,000 persons have been displaced or affected by the flood.
He said virtually all the communities and streets in Yenagoa Local Government Area and Sagbama, Ekeremor, Ogbia, Kolokuma/Opokuma and Southern Ijaw have also been either submerged or partially flooded.
Gbaranbiri disclosed that there had been reported cases of corpses being washed up at the cemetery in Asokoro, raising concerns of an impending health crisis.
He however assured that the government would do its best to bring relief to victims of the flood as the committee was working round the clock to address the challenge of the current crisis.
