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Flood committee urges FG to set up council on control

By Ameh Ochojila, Abuja
23 May 2023   |   3:10 am
The Presidential Flood Committee, set up by President Muhammadu Buhari, has recommended the establishment of an 18-man National Flood Management Council (NFMC), to be chaired by Vice President in the country.

Flooding ravaging a community in Nigeria

• Says Vice President to head council
• Recommends N3.4 trillion as intervention fund
• Decries states, councils’ abysmal performance on disaster management

The Presidential Flood Committee, set up by President Muhammadu Buhari, has recommended the establishment of an 18-man National Flood Management Council (NFMC), to be chaired by Vice President in the country.

Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who is chairman of the committee, stated this as part of recommendations in the report presented while briefing newsmen, yesterday, in Abuja.

Adamu also recommended that N3.4 trillion would be needed to implement the proposed 10 strategic plans contained in the report, which include data acquisition and multi-sectoral sharing of integrated flood control.

He said the Council became necessary, as there has not been anyone set up to address flood disasters in the country, adding that the body is to carry out functions that would mitigate flooding.

The committee also counselled the Federal Government on enhancing capacity building of Nigerians at all levels.

A copy of the report titled, “National Strategic Plan for Flood Management, May 2023,” which was made available to The Guardian, advised the Federal Government on having Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for flood data sharing among agencies.

The committee also recommended that there is need to operationalise the national management council for coordination of integrated flood management.

However, the committee stated that the federal, state and local councils had not invested adequately in flood management infrastructure but investing on post-disaster projects.

It, therefore, said to curb flooding, adequate funding strategies have to be established for long-term funding mechanisms, which include yearly budget, ecological funds, and natural resource development funds, among others.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said 363 lives were lost, 5,851 injured, 3,891,314 affected and 3,871,530 displaced owing to flood disaster in 2012.

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