Flooding: Tinubu orders immediate Action Plan to stop impending disaster
An urgent Action Plan has been ordered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to avert a national flood calamity.
This was revealed in a statement released on Tuesday by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Media & Communications, Office of the Vice President.
In an emergency meeting at Aso Villa in Abuja, Tinubu allegedly made the charge while being represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Yahaya Bello, the governor of Kogi State, will serve as the committee’s chairperson. The committee has seven days to submit its findings.
“According to the Director General of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency’s arguments, the situation is not so bad, but it never hurts to be prepared. We cannot afford to take chances because the submissions made by the other pertinent parties are equally compelling.
The Vice President said, “Even though the situation is not as bad as we might assume, we need to form up a committee so that the Presidential Committee’s report and the 2022 Federal Executive Council’s comprehensive preparedness plan should be synchronized and implemented right away.
Shettima stated that a workable path will handle the flood situation in Nigeria, adding that the Federal Government, the Niger Delta Development Commission, and the North East Development Commission would all share responsibility.
He stated:
“I deliberately invited the NEDC and NDDC so that whatever resources that NEMA has, they have to be released to the states so that they can start making preparations for any eventuality.
“Based on the Presidential directive, I will meet with the NEDC and NDDC chief executives for states under their coverage. There should be interventions from them.
“For NEDC, they can take care of Taraba, Bauchi and Adamawa. For NDDC, they can take care of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Cross River. For states like Ebonyi, Kogi and Benue, we will mobilise from our savings and deploy the same to assist them. We have to share responsibilities and hence the immediate need for implementing the roadmap.”
The development comes days after the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issued a flood alert to Nigerians in nine states- Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Edo, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Taraba.