September 07, (THEWILL) – The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a national flood emergency preparedness and response plan in Nigeria.
The government said the plan would provide more resilience and effective response measures to mitigate the impact of flooding on Nigerians.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiya Umar Farouq, who revealed the approval, urged all states and operational stakeholders to implement the plan, in order to advance national development.
She said the council also approved the National Social Investment Program Establishment Bill 2022, to give parliamentary backing to the social investment schemes in the country.
Farouq assured that the bill will give legal backing to the national social investment program as an agency with a mandate of fulfilling the President’s agenda to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2023.
Approval for the National flood emergency preparedness and response plan comes on the heels of reports about various deaths caused by flooding.
The National Emergency Management Agency had disclosed that in the last eight months, floods in Nigeria, mostly flash floods, have inundated 33 out of 36 States and FCT, thereby, affecting over 508,000 persons, leading to about 372 deaths.
It added that 277 persons got injured and about 37,633 houses were destroyed with the loss of huge numbers of livestock and several farmlands submerged by the flood mostly in Adamawa, Jigawa, Taraba, Kano, Bauchi, Niger, Anambra, and the Ebonyi States.
The Director General, NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, noted that the flood has been accompanied by other derivative disasters.
He said, “In the last eight months, floods in Nigeria; mostly flash floods, have inundated 33 out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“It affected over 508,000 persons, leading to about 372 deaths, 277 injured persons, destruction of about 37,633 houses, loss of a huge number of livestock and several farmland have been submerged.
“This is mostly in Adamawa, Jigawa, Taraba, Kano, Bauchi, Niger, Anambra and Ebonyi states. These have been accompanied by other derivative disasters.”
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