The Governor at the 128th NEC Meeting held on 20th October 2022, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, and Executive Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal drew the attention of the Council to the devastating effect of the 2022 flooding which affected about 31 States of the Federation that had resulted in the loss of over 600 lives, displacement of millions of people, destruction of hundreds of thousands of houses and submersion of thousands of hectares of farmlands and appealed for urgent intervention from the Federal Government to address the impact of the menace on the people and infrastructure.
Consequently, the Council resolved to set up a 5-man Ad-hoc Committee on flooding comprises of the Governors of Jigawa, Kogi, Anambra, Bayelsa, Lagos, and Yobe State. The following were also coopted into the Committee:
Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning
Honourable Minister of Water Resources
Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management
Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria
Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)
The Terms of Reference of the Committee were to “Review the current flooding situation in the country and design a template for compensation of victims”.
The Committee had its inaugural meeting on Thursday 10th November 2022 at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Secretariat. Highlightsight of the meeting was as follows:
The Committee acknowledged the urgency of the assignment and hence the need to expedite action to table a draft report at the next NEC Meeting
A sub-committee was constituted to propose modalities to address the imminent food crisis due to the flooding and possible source of funding for palliatives to victims. The Sub-committee was to be Chaired by the Executive Governor of Kebbi State and the follow as Members: Ministries of Agriculture, Humanitarian, Finance, NEMA, and CBN.
NEC Secretariat to develop and forward a Template with an accompanying letter to all the affected States to collect data on the Preliminary Assessment of the impact of the flood in the affected communitiharmonize dataataedataa, and produce a report of their findings to the Committee.
LIMITATIONS
The exercise would have been more successful and effective if all the affected States had responded as and when due and according to provisions made in the template. Some of the limitations include the following:
Delay or Non-submission of the filled template by some States. Only 16 out of the total number of affected States forwarded their submissions to NEC Secretariat to date as expected. About 15 others were yet to do so. The submission from defaulting States is awaited to update the database.
Some of the States that submitted did not fully comply with requisitions of the template thereby making some of their submissions difficult to process by the automated system. There is a need for compliance with laid-down processes to allow for a higher degree of uniformity especially considering the huge volume of data involved.
Only a few States reached out to the Council Secretariat’s Technical Team for possible guidance and assistance in the exercise. States are encouraged to take advantage of the Secretariat’s personnel to address important concerns where necessary.
Only a few States indicated financial implications for the damages caused thereby making it difficult to propose the required amount of intervention.
Some submissions were not done according to the template which makes it difficult to ascertain the financial implications of such states.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The plight of victims of the unfortunate flood disaster across affected States of the Federation could be alleviated if the much-needed intervention from the Federal Government materialized without further delay.
There is therefore the need to expedite the release of funds to affected States as recommended by designated Committees constituted by the Federal Government to that effect. This would go a long way in addressing the needs of the victims as well as offset debt incurred by some States to assist their citizens.
COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS
NEC Secretariat and officials of the Office of the Vice President to visit the affected states for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation on the ground. The exercise will authenticate the data submitted by the state to determine the needed intervention.
That Federal Government’s immediate intervention is to be expeditiously carried out by NEMA, Ecological Fund Office, and other relevant agencies. States to assure maximum cooperation.
NEC resolves that all hands should be on deck to assure appropriate submission and data presentation. The quality of data collected should be enhanced to meet international standards. That the challenges of flooding deserve concerted and collective effort.
There is a need to strengthen NEMA as a structure and sustainable adaptation measures for the citizens. In mobilizing resources to stem the tide of flooding, there is a need to look beyond NEMA.
NEC Secretariat to come up with recommendations on the roadmap toward addressing the flood situation.
