The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has spent One million dollars to provide relief materials to victims of flood disaster in the Niger Delta.
SPDC’s Media Relations Manager, Mrs Abimbola Essien-Nelson, in a statement on Wednesday said the move was solely underwritten by the energy firm exclusive of its joint venture partners in Nigeria.
She said the money would be used to purchase and distribute food and non-food relief materials, as well as medical supplies, to communities hosting Shell operations in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Imo affected by the flood.
Essien-Nelson said like it happened in the 2012 flood disaster, staff of Shell companies in Nigeria would make a voluntary donation of funds to buy more relief materials for impacted people.
The statement quoted the Country Chairman, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor, as expressing the company’s concern of how flood waters had further hampered socio-economic activities in the region.
“We hope that our assistance can help them cope with the impact of this tragedy.”
The company said its donation came as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) announced that the floods continued to have wide-spread impact across the country, affecting 29 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.
Gov Douye Diri of Bayelsa said that about one million residents of the state were displaced, leading to a humanitarian crisis which he said was beyond the state to cope with.
He said the state so far has spent N900 million in aid of flood victims at several Internally Displaced Persons camps across the state in the past three weeks.
