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The Delta State Government has debunked claims that its fire service station in Oghara, Ethiope East Local Government Area is moribund.

The State Commissioner, Bureau for Special Duties, Mr Ernest Ogwezzy, made the clarification at the ongoing ministerial press briefing when he presented the activities and achievements of his Ministry, at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Information, Asaba.

Mr Ogwezzy who was responding to a question, stated that the fire service station at Oghara was functional, like other fire stations in the state, noting: “Our Fire Service Station at Oghara is functional and our vehicles there were recently refurbished out of the N21 million released by the Governor for that purpose and now in good working condition.”

The Commissioner, while affirming that very good care was being given to the Fire Service vehicles across the state, said his office would soon make available phone numbers of all the Fire Stations in the State.

On the setting up of filling stations close to residential houses, the Commissioner said that the Fire Service only gives approval after proof that the owners must have taken the necessary insurance policy to cover the business and houses around, saying the Ministry of Lands and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) were involved in the approval process.

He disclosed that the Libyan returnee of Delta extraction received welfare package from the Bureau, saying they were encouraged to take advantage of the State YAGEP and STEP programme, even as he affirmed that some were already beneficiaries of the programmes.

Responding to reports of those absconding during pilgrimages to the Holy Land in Israel, Mr Ogwezzy remarked that before now, there were no cases of such, clarifying that the 13 persons involved in last year’s exercise were not Deltans but deceitful used Delta state platform to perpetrate the act, assuring that mechanisms were being put in place to forestall such act in future.

He stated that only officials in the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board were sponsored by the State Government to the Holy Land of Mecca, adding that private persons adherent of the Islamic religion merely utilized the opportunity created for Delta State participate in the exercise and that there was grand plan to Islamize the State.

The Special Duties Commissioner said that issue of flood and coastal erosion were not under his purview but indicated that where disaster occurred as a result, his office work through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and collaborate with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to handle disaster matters.

Speaking on the recent rainstorm that were reported to have ravaged houses at Alifekede in Ika South LGA and Emevon in Isoko North, the Commissioner stated that he visited both scenes and that his office was making arrangement to address the affected victims.

He described the situation of people residing at Abalaoshimili in Ndokwa East as akin to a tendency toward self destruction, saying government had advised the people to relocate for their safety, saying however that a memo had been written to establish an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in the area.