The Nigerian Red Cross Society has donated food and non-food items worth millions of naira to 9,000 flood victims in Anambra in a bid to assuage their sufferings.

The beneficiaries were those affected by the August-September flood which ravaged farms, houses and other means of livelihood in the state.

Addressing the beneficiaries on Sunday at the Umueri General Hospital, Umueri, the National President of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Mr Bolaji Anani said the organisation was responding to victims in 22 states.

Anani, who said over one million Nigerians were affected by the flood, noted that the organisation focused its attention on 10,000 most-vulnerable households across the affected states.

He noted that Anambra with 1,000 households and 9,000 direct beneficiaries was the second largest to benefit after Delta, which recorded 1,700 households amounting to over 12,000 direct beneficiaries.

Anani said 320 households would benefit in Umueri, 414 in Ogbaru, 116 in Omor and 150 in Onitsha, saying that four other camps in Awka North and Ogbaru Local Government Areas would, however not benefit from the gesture and each household would go home with 50 kilogrammes of rice, 10 litres of groundnut oil, 24 kilogrammes of beans, one kilogramme of salt and 36 kilogrammes of corn mixed with soya beans.

Other items are: 100 tablets of Aqua tabs, kitchen sets, wrappers, mosquito nets, buckets, sleeping mats, soap, blankets, tarpaulin and hygiene sets.

“These items came from our partners: the International Federation of Red Cross and Christian Societies, Geneva; International Committee of Red Cross, Geneva; and the Nigerian Red Cross Society. We also got funding support from ECO, our European Union partners for the operations,’’ Anani, who was represented by Mr Andronicus Adeyemo, said.

He gave an assurance that the modalities to ensure equitable distribution of the items had been put in place.

In an interview, Mrs Gloria Ofokansi, a widow and cleaner in the state government service, who benefited from the gesture, commended the Red Cross for donating the items.

“For Red Cross to remember us in our difficult times, I am full of joy. I lack words to express myself now.These items are enough to even celebrate this year’s Christmas with my six children,’’ Ofokansi said in tears.

(NAN)