Shell donates $1m to flood victims in Niger Delta

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has donated $1 million to people impacted by the current flood disaster in the Niger Delta.

The SPDC Media Relations Manager, Abimbola Essien-Nelson, made this known via a statement issued on Wednesday.

Essien-Nelson said the donation would be used to procure and distribute food and non-food relief materials, as well as medical supplies, to impacted communities hosting Shell operations in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Imo states.

“Similar to our response in the 2012 flood disaster, staff of Shell companies in Nigeria are also contributing towards a voluntary fund for the purchase of additional relief materials for impacted people,” she stated.

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She further quoted the Country Chairman, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, as saying the company was concerned that flooding has further hampered socio-economic activities in the Niger Delta region.

“We hope that our assistance can help them cope with the impact of this tragedy,” Okunbor said.

He noted that the company’s support came after the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) announced that the floods continued to have widespread impact across the country, affecting 29 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, said about one million residents of the state were displaced, leading to a humanitarian crisis beyond the capacity of the state to cope.

Diri said the state government has so far spent N900 million in the upkeep of flood victims at several Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the state in the past three weeks.

The Star