Folalumi Alaran in Abuja
The federal government has inaugurated a technical working group and steering committee on the management of floods and disasters in Nigeria.
The chairman of the committee and Minister of Water Resources, Sulieman Adamu, who spoke in Abuja Thursday, said in accordance with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive, he would coordinate teams from the relevant federal ministries, agencies and state governments to create action plans for preventing floods and disasters in Nigeria within 90 days.
Adamu said it was no longer news that the recent floods across the country devastated properties worth billions of naira, put several communities through difficulties, inundated residences in over 34 states, and caused severe hardship in various communities.
He said: “The members of the Presidential Committee being inaugurated today are seasoned professionals and bureaucrats who have been selected from across the MDAs, states and professional organisations. You have been adjudged to have in one way or the other contributed immensely to the water resources, environmental, agricultural and other sectors of the country.
“I urge you, therefore, to consider your nomination to membership of this committee as a privilege and another opportunity to serve and contribute towards safeguarding the lives and well-being of our fellow citizens that otherwise would be vulnerable to the devastating effects of flood in the future.”
In his remarks, the Deputy Governor of
Anambra State, Dr Onyekachi Ibezim, lamented that his state had suffered huge losses from the 2022 floods, as it affected a third of its local government areas.
He added that the formation of the committee came in good time as the state government was deliberating on using excess water from flooding for hydropower generation.
The Minister of Environment, Dr. Hassan Abdullahi, said that flooding was a result of human activity and urged states to heed early warning signs.
He advised that building permits be strictly enforced by the governments to end the practice of building indiscriminately on flood planes.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, also spoke, noting that the rise in global temperatures had led to predictions that the effects of climate change on people and the environment will worsen over the next years.
He asserted that the committee must give solutions for health promotion and disease prevention because flooding effects on the health sector could result in an increase in water-borne illnesses.
The steering committee members included Ministers of Health; Environment; Agriculture and Rural Development; Transport, Works and Housing; Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, as well as their respective permanent secretaries.
Others were representatives of Jigawa, Adamawa, Anambra, Ogun, Bayelsa and Kogi States.
The Technical Working Group included the Directors-General of National Water Resources Institute, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, representatives of Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, among others.
