The Presidential flood committee established by President Muhammadu Buhari, has recommended the establishment of an 18-man National Flood Management Council, NFMC, to be chaired by the Vice President of the country.
The Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu who is the chairman of the committee stated this as part of recommendations of the report presented while briefing newsmen, on Monday in Abuja.
Adamu also recommended to the Federal that an estimated cost of N3.4 trillion is a needed cost for implementing the proposed 10 strategies contained in the report.
Adamu said the Council is necessary because there has not been any set up to address the flood disasters in the country, therefore, he explained that this council is expected to carry out functions that would mitigate against any level of flood disaster, and some of these functions include advise the president on issues patterning the declaration of State of emergency based on flood categorization.
The proposed NFMC is to deal with any other matters that would be directed by the President.
The Council is also to source and provide funding on all flood related matters. It is also to coordinate flood related matters in the country.
The committee also recommended the multi-sectoral collaboration for mitigation and management of floods in Nigeria.
Adamu said the committee recommended ten strategy plans which includes Data acquisition and multi-sectoral sharing of integrated flood control.
The committee also counseled 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’ counseled the Federal government on having a Standard Operating Procedures, SOP’s, for flood data sharing among agencies.
According to the report, a robust early warning system that encompasses the dynamics of rain, catchment characteristic and anthropogenic activities with appropriate leady-time marks installation would be minimized in the country.
The committee also recommended that there is a need to operationalize the national management council for coordination of integrated flood management.
Military and paramilitary is to conduct training for vulnerable communities and develop and implement regional training programs for vulnerable communities.
The committee also recommends construction of dams and detention bases on the River, Benue, Donga, Taraba, Mada, Dep and Okpokwu.
However the committee pointed out that the federal state and local governor have not invested adequately in flood management infrastructure; instead investing on post-disaster projects.
They therefore said to curb flooding, adequate funding strategies had to be established for long term funding mechanisms which include annual budget, ecological funds, natural resource development funds,and among others.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, 363 lives were lost, 5,851 injured, 3,891,314 affected and 3,871,530 displaced due to the flood disaster in 2012.
To reduce the risk and impact of flood disasters on the citizenry, a presidential committee was set up as directed by President Muhammdu Buharinamd was inaugurated on November 3,3, 2022o develop a comprehensive plan of action for preventing flood disasters in Nigeria.