Nigeria to Tackle Flood Disasters with N3.4tn – Committee

The Presidential Flood Committee, on Monday, announced that Nigeria would need about N3.4tn to tackle flood disasters across the country, particularly during the rainy season.

Chairman of the committee, who doubles as Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, announced this during a press briefing in Abuja, while presenting the recommendations of the committee as contained in a report put together by his team.

The committee, which was established by President Muhammadu Buhari, also recommended the establishment of an 18-man National Flood Management Council, to be chaired by the Vice President of Nigeria.

Adamu stated that part of the recommendations to the Federal Government was that an estimated cost of N3.4tn was needed for implementing the proposed 10 strategies contained in the report.

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He said the council was necessary because there had not been any one that was set up to address the flood disasters across the country.

“This council is expected to carry out functions that would mitigate against any level of flood disaster, and some of these functions include advising the President on issues pertaining to the declaration of state of emergency based on flood categorisation,” he stated.

He said the proposed 18-man National Flood Management Council would also deal with any other matter that would be directed by the President.

“The council is also to source and provide funding on all flood related matters. It is to coordinate flood related matters in the country,” the minister stated.

The committee called for multi-sectoral collaboration for the mitigation and management of floods in Nigeria.

Adamu said the committee recommended 10 strategic plans, which include a robust early warning system that contained the dynamics of rainfall, catchment characteristic and anthropogenic activities

The committee stated that there was the need for data acquisition and multi-sectoral sharing of integrated flood control information.

The committee, however, pointed out that the federal, state and Local Governments had not invested adequately in flood management infrastructure, but had been investing on post-disaster projects.

It therefore stated that to curb flooding, adequate funding strategies had to be established, which include annual budgets, ecological funds, natural resource development funds, among others.