UN Chief, Baroness Valerie Amos Visits Delta State
The United Nations under Secretary-General (USG) for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Baroness Valerie Amos and her team will visit Delta State on Saturday June 15th, 2013 in connection with the recent flood disaster in the State. Baroness Valerie Amos, former British Leader of the House of Lords and erstwhile UK Minister for International Development is leading the UN Mission from New York on a fact- finding and assessment mission to Delta State to ascertain the level of devastation occasioned by last year's flood in the State and how the UN can through OCHA would be of assistance.
The Senior Adviser to the Governor on Foreign Relations, Hon. Oma Djebah who disclosed this, said that during the one-day visit to the State, the under Secretary-General(USG) Baroness Valerie will hold high- level talks with the State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan as well as hold an interactive session with stake holders including Government Officials, Community heads and Traditional rulers of areas mostly affected by the flood at the Event Centre in Asaba, the Delta State capital at 10 a.m. on Saturday June 15th, 2013.
The event would be chaired by a former Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Ike Nwachukwu. Gen Ike Nwachukwu, a former Governor of Old Imo State is also a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
According to a statement from the Office of the Senior Adviser to the Governor on Foreign Relations, ' Baroness Amos, was a former leader of the British House of Lords and former Secretary of state for International Development, who is visiting Delta State for an on-the-sport fact-finding and assessment mission in furtherance of the United Nation's assistance to the victims of last year's Flood disaster in parts of the State would use the opportunity to also undertake a brief tour of a flood ravaged community within the State'.
It would be recalled that following last year's flood disaster in Delta State, the State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan undertook several interventionist measures to alleviate and redress the grave situation. One of these measures was the empowerment of a Technical Committee to carry out a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) Report for submission to the UN Headquarters in New York. The Committee which was headed by Prof Eric Arubaye, the Vice Chancellor of the Delta State University undertook its assignment within record time and submitted same to the State Government which was then submitted to the UN Headquarters in New York by the State Government.
As a build up and to keep the momentum on track, the Senior Adviser(Foreign Relations) to the Governor, Hon Oma Djebah in his meeting with the USG, Baroness Amos, in New York in February this year had requested the UN Chief and her team to visit Delta State with a view to ' to further exploring ways of offering hope to those affected by the flood and most importantly in supporting the efforts of the Delta State Government in helping to alleviate and redress the agony of flood victims.'
The UN, the global body which with a mandate to address complex issues such as flood disasters and global warming across the world, would naturally provide the platform and leadership for providing sustainable and lasting panacea to global disasters across various theatres of crisis of various dimensions and persuasions across the world.