National Economic Council (NEC), yesterday, directed the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation to commence a comprehensive integrity review of Nigeria’s waterways and dams towards mitigating the devastating impact of flooding in the country.

NEC described recent flooding across Nigeria as a “major national disaster,” and called for intensified response efforts in the affected states of the Federation.

According to the council reports, the floods have impacted 34 states, 217 local councils and displaced over 740,000 people.

Additionally, 321 lives were lost, 2,854 people were injured and substantial damage was inflicted on homes and farmlands.

Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, highlighted the gravity of the situation and urged State Emergency Emergency Agencies (SEMA) to strengthen their coordination with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

He emphasised that SEMAs must “up their game” to manage the crisis effectively.

Soludo stated this while briefing newsmen after the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He also said the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof Joseph Utsev, had briefed members of NEC on the Federal Government’s intervention activities across the country regarding the impact of this year’s flooding.

The Water Resources Ministry had earlier identified 148 local councils in the country, spanning 31 states, as high flood-risk areas for 2024.

According to Soludo, after receiving the minister’s presentation, NEC resolved that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation should conduct an integrity review of all the waterways and dams across the country.

“There was a serious emphasis on the need for a massive programme of dredging of the waterways. The council also urged governors, who had not submitted their reports on the situation of flooding and management in their states to do so immediately.

“Council also noted that the Green Climate Fund should have an infrastructure resilient fund component and noted that there were some critical parts of the country ravaged by flooding, particularly the South East/South South that were completely omitted in the ongoing programmes of the construction of dams at least to act as speed bumps along the highways particularly in the River Niger.”

It was gathered that Utsev, during his presentation, informed NEC that a technical sub-committee appointed by President Tinubu on October 8, 2024, was continuing with its assignment and would be putting together an interim report to be presented to the inter-ministerial committee for onward transmission to the President.