The Bayelsa State Government has sympathised with residents of the state over the impact of the rising floods, assuring that efforts are underway to mitigate its devastating effects on the people.
The government gave the assurances, Wednesday, during its eighth State Executive Council meeting presided over by the state Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.
A statement by the Deputy Governor’s media aide, Mr Doubara Atasi, said that the deputy governor stressed that the government was aware of the difficulties being experienced by the people of the state as a result of the flood, which has become a perennial problem due to climate change.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo also appealed to Bayelsans to exercise patience with the state government over the inconveniences being experienced as a result of the ongoing expansion of the Etegwe Round About.
He said the difficulties being experienced today was a necessary sacrifice which the entire state would benefit from when the project was completed within the shortest possible time.
“His Excellency wishes to empathise with all Bayelsans, especially those who have been directly and indirectly affected by the ravaging flood. Reports available are that quite a number of our communities are now under water”, he said.
“The Government of Prosperity is quite aware of the pains you are passing through and so we must all be our brothers’ keepers by walking through this trying times together so that at the end of the day, we will do the best we can to assuage the pains our brothers and sisters are facing now”, he added.
“We also want to use this opportunity to empathise with Bayelsans who are having some horrible times as a result of the construction going on at the Etegwe Round About. It is a temporary setback. So, we want to urge Bayelsans to give us the benefit of the doubt and endure with us”, he noted.
On the forthcoming Senatorial by-elections in Bayelsa West and Central Senatorial Districts, he called on the people of the state to shun violence, stressing that politics should unite and not divide us.
He recalled with sadness the bloodbath in Nembe in the run-up to the November 2019 governorship election and urged the people of the state to avoid a recurrence.
Briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, Commissioner for Information, Hon. Ayibaina Duba, said council directed the Commissioner for Environment in conjunction with a technical team to assess the impact of flood across the state with a view to providing immediate and long term relief to cushion the menace.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Ayibaina Duba, has said that the State Executive Council has also concluded plans to standardise abattoirs in the state as a means of improving their sanitary conditions and protecting Bayelsans from consuming unhealthy meat.

Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa.