Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri has appreciated the presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo for a donation of Ten million naira to cater for flood victims.

Governor Diri, who gave the commendation during a courtesy visit by the SDP candidate called on federal government to fund the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as its North East Development Commission counterpart to respond to natural disasters.

Represented by his Deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the Governor described the effect of flood as unimaginable, noting that the state would require a lot of resources for the recovery process.

According to Governor Diri, the fact that NDDC has been kept inept, docile and comatose, speaks volumes of the insensitivity on the part of the federal government expressing regret that the has been politicized.

Governor Diri said the state has received some non-food items from the federal agencies, noting that relief materials airlifted by the Air force to the state were procured by Bayelsa government.

He also added that the people of the state were suffering from high prices of petroleum products and foodstuffs due to the damaged road infrastructure of the East-West road.

Speaking earlier, SDP Presidential candidate, Prince Adewole had empathized with the government and people of Bayelsa over the level of devastation caused by the flood, noting that he was saddened by what he saw while coming into the state.

Prince Adebayo condemned the recent comment by the Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Sadiyat Farouk about Bayelsa not being among the top ten most flood impacted states as stay-at-home analysts.

He said the resources at the disposal of states particularly in the Niger Delta were inadequate to tackle challenges and advocated that the derivation principle should not be less than fifty percent.