Efforts to know what exactly has happened to the money in the state failed, fuelling speculation that the money has been embezzled by some faceless people.
It would be re-called that President Goodluck Jonathan had last October announced the donation of N17.6bn to states affected by the last flood.
The announcement came after many states were ravaged with flood, which led to the death of about 147 people.
Many farmers had equally committed suicide due to the loss of their farm produce as a result of the devastating flood.
Based on the assessment, the States were categorized into four groups: A to D. All Category A States received N500 million each; Category B States, N400 million each; Category C States, N300 million each; and Category D States, N250 million each”
Enugu, which fell under category D with Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Yobe, Ekiti, Osun, Akwa-Ibom, Borno and FCT received N250 million from the federal government.
Before Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State returned from his four months trip abroad, a government source had said they were waiting for him to give directives on how the money would be disbursed. However, more than three weeks after Chime returned, nothing has been heard about the money.
Victims of the flood are now lamenting that, four months after the federal government made such donation, Enugu State was yet to distribute the money to the flood victims, or make any donation of relief materials to the affected flood area.
Three local government areas in Enugu State- Ezeagu, Nsukka and Uzo-Uwani were ravaged by flood last year.
When contacted, Barr. Chukwudi Achife, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sullivan Chime said relief materials have since been distributed to the victims. He further referred the reporter to the Enugu State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA.
But on the contrary, the flood victims said that they never received any relief material from the state government or from SEMA.
One of the victims at Okutu in Nsukka Local Government Area said it was only the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, Enugu State chapter, that donated10 bags of rice to them.
According to him, “It is only in Enugu state that this kind of thing is happening; all other surrounding states, including Kogi, have disbursed the money to flood victims in their states.
“We have been waiting since last year but nothing has happened. Anybody that is telling you that SEMA or NEMA has donated anything to flood victims in Enugu state is not saying the truth.
“We were full of expectations that day because we thought it was SEMA that was coming but it turned out to be ALGON. What they gave us were ten bags of 50kg rice, a bag of beans, two 25kg jerry can of vegetable oil, six cartons of toilet soap, one carton of tinned tomatoes, a Ghana-must-go bag of onions and four bags of salt.
“We are calling on the federal government to wade into this matter; it is so bad that in Enugu State, the money meant for victims of a disaster has been embezzled by some selfish politicians in the state”.
Another victim of the flood said SEMA and NEMA only visited their community to ascertain the level of destruction in the community.
“Since then, we have not seen anybody in our place; any person who is telling you that they brought relief materials should also be able to tell you who the materials were handed over to. The person should also tell you if the distribution was done, whether in the night and where it was done”.
DailyPost also made efforts to contact Mr. Joe Offor, the SEMA coordinator in Enugu State, but he refused to respond to the questions put across to him.
“I am not in the position to say something; this is a government matter; so, I have to consult with government first”, he said.
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